Month-End Discounts For Ford, General Motors Auto Buyers

Anthony Fontanelle
June 26, 2007

There are speculations around the auto industry that Ford and General Motors will be offering discounts for their customers. It is believed that the Michigan automakers will be offering discounts for their vehicles by the last weekend of this month.

According to sources inside the companies, the sales incentives will be offered before the Fourth of July. It is expected that General Motors will be offering zero-percent-financing or selected auto models. For Ford, it is yet unclear what they will be offering by the end of the month but it is expected that the car manufacturer will offer terms similar to General Motors.

Jim Cain, speaking for Ford though, said that there is noting to announce concerning month-end sales incentives. General Motors, on the other hand, through spokesman John McDonald announced that they are panning a sales event around the Fourth of July holiday. Aside from that, McDonald and General Motors declined to release any further information.

Historically though, American car manufacturers offer big discounts in the summer. This is done to get rid of late model vehicles on their dealership lots to make way for new models. It is expected that by fall this year, 2008 model year cars will be introduced one after another.

Jess Toprak, an analyst for Edmunds, expects that the discounts will be offered with Ford and General Motors’ SUVs and pickup trucks. With car buyers turning their back on light trucks, it is of course practical on the part of Ford and General Motors to get rid of their slow moving items. The incentives that will be offered with their pickup trucks will also be a response to Toyota’s move of offering rebates for the Tundra.

“Historically, you do tend to see a ramp-up (of discounts) at the end of June through the end of summer,” says Toprak. The current situation that Ford and General Motors are in would most likely result to the car companies offering discounts for their vehicles.

The sales incentives that General Motors may work with may be in connection with the release of the live-action film “Transformers”. The movie features four General Motors vehicles. These four vehicles are the Chevy Camaro, Pontiac Solstice, GMC Topkick, and a Search and Rescue Hummer H2.

General Motors stated that they are looking to take advantage of the attention that the film will attract from the general public. The popularity of the film may be used by General Motors to augment its other marketing campaigns.

Last month, General Motors posted an increase of 6 percent in sales over May of 2006. With the speculations that the company will be offering sales incentives, it is expected that General Motors will have another month of increased sales.

Ford, on the other hand, has had a disastrous May this year. Sales for the Dearborn, Michigan-based car manufacturer fell by ten percent. If it is true that the company is looking to offers discounts, it may serve as EBC rotors and brake pads in stopping the downward slide of the sales output of the company.

The auto buying public though would still have to wait whether the two companies will indeed offers sales incentive for their vehicles.

Source:  Amazines.com