Detroit seems ready to pay people to take away its gas guzzlers.

General Motors kicked off the desperate move by offering interest-free loans for six years to buyers of SUVs, pickups, and many other big models crowding car lots.

GM, Ford and Chrysler are all wrestling with backlogs of 2008 gas guzzlers due a slow economy and skyrocketing gas prices that make many of their vehicles too expensive to drive.

GM tumbled 6.4 percent to a historic low of $12.91. It’s off 62 percent from a year ago.

The promotion – from today to June 30 – could cost GM dearly. Interest costs are expected to rise, depriving GM of even steeper unrealized profits on financing, which at current low rates is typically about $8,000 per vehicle.

GM also will pay as much as $7,000 in cash incentives if owners trade in their gas guzzlers for new gas hogs, but forgo zero-financing.

GM and Ford face write-offs of more than $1 billion each due to the collapse of their leased-auto resale markets, analysts say.

Gas guzzlers are being dumped en masse from leases, causing used-vehicle inventories to pile up with no takers despite car lot discounts of as much as half.