General Motors is celebrating GMAC's decision to loosen credit restrictions by increasing incentives on many remaining 2008 models. Effective immediately, the General is offering 0% APR for 60 months on the 2008 Chevy TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, and the entire Saab lineup. All GMT900 full-size SUVs and every member of the 2008 Cadillac lineup also gets a big-time incentive boost, with 1.9% financing available for 60 months. The rock-bottom deals come in addition to cash incentives of up to $4,250. GM is also offering financing as low as 3.9% on select 2009 models, including the well-received Cadillac CTS.
Last week, GM partnered with credit unions in four states to offer up to $10 billion in new car loans and incentives. Not one to be left shivering alone in the cold, and with November sales down nearly 28% compared to last year, Chrysler LLC has just announced their own 12-state credit union program allowing its customers access to upwards of $12 billion in auto loan financing. The partnership (also called "Invest in America") gives participating credit union members additional $500 to $1,000 rebates on most Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge vehicles. Steven Landry, Chrysler's executive VP of North America sales, says, "We are confident that the Invest in America program and credit union member cash will provide significant value for our customers and the economy as a whole during these challenging times." While additional cash on the hood of a new Chrysler sounds appealing, we really don't think that buyers are avoiding showrooms due to a lack of financial incentives -- it's been a buyer's market for months.
Chet Czaplicka doesn't own one of the Big 3's suppliers or run a car dealership. Instead, he is the chief executive of a blood-processing firm in the Detroit suburb of Livonia, Michigan. But like most people in that part of the country, he has several autoworkers in his family. And, perhaps more importantly, he understands how extensively the overall US. economy is enmeshed with the production of automobiles.
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In another obvious sign of the times, Dodge is launching its brand new and totally redesigned 2009 Ram half-ton pickup truck with incentives right out of the gate. Purchasers who only need a regular cab will get $500 off the Ram's base price of $22,170 before options while those looking to get a quad cab or crew cab will get double that amount off their new truck. We're sure that potential buyers won't be complaining, but it's a far cry from the 40% savings being offered on '08 Rams. We verified these numbers by using Dodge's online configuration tool, which does not yet allow you to order up the innovative RamBox option. That lockable storage unit is built right into the bed rail of the pickup and will reportedly run you $1,850. That seems pretty reasonable considering that Dodge is the only brand offering this type of storage solution. Still not sold? Did you know that a RamBox is nearly big enough to fit an adult man? Pretty cool, that. Expect to see the RamBox option come online in early November.
Giveth, and taketh away, isn't that always the story? On the taketh away side, GM has recently lost a serious chunk of change. On the giveth side, The General received a $56 milion package of tax credits and grants to keep an SUV factory open in Ohio. It has also just received another package of tax credits from the city of Flint, Michigan to aid its investment in a factory that will build engines for the new Volt and Chevy Cruze. Approved over some constituent disapproval by the Flint City Council, getting GM to build the factory there will keep 300 jobs in the city. GM is now looking to the state of Michigan for more tax incentives.
Chrysler's departure from the leasing game certainly isn't going to help dealers move stale product off their lots, so the automaker has announced a new sales program unimaginatively named the "Shop 'Til You Drive Sales Event." What'll it take to get you into a new Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep vehicle?
Well, aside from $2,000 cash back on "select retail purchases," Chrysler is offering an August-only, 72-month, zero-percent APR financing deal on many of its slow-selling models that aims to make monthly payments approximately the same as a 36-month lease.
Additionally, pricing on Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep vehicles has been slashed, with the Ram dropping 40-percent of its MSRP, Aspen hacked by up to 25 percent, Town & Country minivans cut by 24 percent and Grand Cherokees dropping 28 percent.
Chrysler will also try to get lessees back into dealerships by offering special "loyalty incentives" that will be applied to a new retail purchase, along with waiving the $425 lease disposition fee.
The automotive sales sector is in a major state of flux as consumers continue to run from SUVs and pickup trucks into smaller, more fuel efficient cars. One manufacturer hit especially hard by this transition is Chrysler, a company that recently posted the worst fleet average fuel economy numbers of all major automakers in the U.S. due to its truck-heavy lineup. Still, the automaker has built up a large supply of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep utility vehicles that they have got to get off dealer lots somehow. To ease consumers into the fuel-thirsy utes, Chrysler has introduced new incentives of zero-percent financing for 72 months on the 2008 Dodge Durango, Chrysler Aspen and Jeep Grand Cherokee and Commander.
It looks like car shoppers have been smart enough to see past Chrysler's cheap gas guarantee. Despite Chrysler's extension of the offer for an extra month, a very small percentage of actual consumers have actually chosen the gas guarantee over the old fashioned cash back options. As we've reported in the past, the incentive wasn't really as good as it seemed once the math was done. As was pointed out by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a 3 mpg bump in efficiency would be equal to the savings Chrysler was offering. Additionally, Chrysler not only has the worst fleet in terms of fuel efficiency, but many of its products haven't exactly set the world on fire based solely on their own merit. The performance of the incentive deal suggests that in today's world average consumers may not want to be seen driving gas guzzling vehicles, regardless of what they're paying for fuel. Good products are still the only real way to guarantee sales, though cash back incentives still have an impact. Perhaps Chrysler should have offered firearms.
We've been waiting for General Motors to step up to the plate with its own incentives now that Ford has offered employee pricing on its F-Series trucks and Dodge has offered $2.99 fuel to go along with its various incentives for the Ram. It seems that GM has finally anted up and increased the incentives for the Silverado, Avalanche and Sierra trucks, along with the Tahoe, Yukon, Escalade and Suburban. The pickups all get $2,000 in customer cash to go along with an extra $3,000 if you already own a GM product for a total of $5,000 total off the sticker price. Those shopping for an SUV will even get an extra grand. In what may be an even larger sign of the times, for the first time ever GM's hybrid Tahoe and Yukon get $4,000 off, but only if you already own a product from the General.
If you want to get in on the savings and don't mind guzzling some gas, you have until June 7 to make it to your nearest Chevrolet or GMC dealer. No rush, we doubt there'll be a line.
Times are tough in Detroit these days as each of the Big 3 saw drastic drops in sales for the month of May. It's not surprising, then, to see that Chrysler, Dodge and Ford have increased incentives in an effort to get those cars off its dealer's lots. For instance, prospective buyers for the Hemi-powered Chrysler 300C can now choose either $4,000 cash back or $2,000 plus Chrysler's $2.99 gas promotion, known as Let's Refuel America. Choosing Chrysler's full-size SUV, the Aspen, will net you $4,500 cash back or $1,000 in cash, plus the Let's Refuel deal. Dodge too is heavy into the incentives game, especially on fuel-gulping SUV's and trucks. The largest savings come with the 2008 Ram truck, which gets you $5,000 in cash or $3,000 plus the cheap gas card.
Realizing the sorry state that sales of the F-Series are in, Ford has chosen to offer employee pricing for its full-sizers, although they aren't telling you what how much you'll save without a trip to the dealer. Cars.com has been able to extract a few figures from Ford's web site and have figured out that nearly three-grand will be shed from the sticker of a mid-grade XLT model. After looking these rebates over, it seems clear that the few consumers still in the market for a large, V8 powered vehicle will be looking to get a great deal for the foreseeable future.
