It’s a very competitive buyer’s market. I would very much like to purchase a 2007 Freestyle (finally with Sirius Satellite Radio). But Ford is not offering any incetives on the 07 models – yet. So I’ll wait. No incentives, no sale – period.

I’m really surprised Porsche cares. They are the definition of a speciality niche market player. The day Porsche feels pressured to compete with the big 2.5 on price and incentives…

The Porsche guy is right. Incentives are stupid. If someone wanted your car, they’d pay full price for it — and many people do for German cars especially. It’s harsh but true.

dl_caldwell,

Maybe because they made a comment does mean that they feel the on coming heat, if not the pressure. Cars have been getting alot better over the years, and maybe there’s not so much room in terms of performance before you start hitting a physics barrier. In other words, unless you can invent a time machine, it gets exponentially harder to improve on 4.5, 4.0, 3.5, 2.9,… times.

Perfomance-Marketeers need to focus on things like 0-100mph times, or more emphasis on lateral g’s, or hp/weight ratios to differentiate. I guess it’s the sign of the times: Performance cars are becoming a fungible commodity.

What’s funny, is most German manufactures have incentives, especially BMW, they just aren’t
A: Advertised
B: Passed directly onto the consumer and are used more for the Dealerships
and C: Made all the time and made well known, so people don’t get used to it and only buy when there is one.

Competetion sharpens the brand. regardless where it is made.
There is financial comp just as there is comp between the hardware. Any team is going to use the advantage it has over its opponent. In this case, the size and financial power of GM et. al. is one of their best weapons.

Incentives drive customers to the dealerships to buy, however, it does nothing for brand loyalty — don’t you just hate buying a product at full price and then see it on sale a few days later!

Additionally, these instant rebates, etc. drive down the re-sale value of vehicles. Customers *should* pay a bit more at the tme of purchase, to ensure that they will get more when they sell their vehicle. Pay an extra $2000 now, and you’ll receive it back plus more a few years down the road; the loss % of value will be significantly less for a Camry or Accord, than for an Impala or a Taurus, for example.

A good product WILL sell itself. Rebates are never necessary for high-quality, desireable consumer products.

except for lease deals… as said above, everyone does it. They just do it different ways that I assumed the average consumer wouldn’t know about, but an auto enthusiast would. I guess I was wrong, and domestic hatred blinds…

I suspect there are quotas to be met, regardless of profit. If the unions wield as much power as I think they might, the manufacturers are forced to keep a certain number of people working. And if they are working, they must build, right? Still, if the U.S. car makers have made such strides in quality, why hasn’t the consumer caught on? Seems to me Toyota and Honda don’t have as much to crow about as they used to.

Is it stupid according to Porsche, or are they beginning to feel that heat down their throat? Is this why they are anxiously trying to acquire 25.1% of Volkswagen?

http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/08/16/porsche-struggles-to-gain-control-of-vw/

Ach du lieber armer Peter Schwarzenbauer … tut Dir ein bissl Preiswettbewerb weh?

The dude can’t take price competition, so he can eat me. I lived in Germany 8 years … those people hate price competition. Some regions even had laws regulating when sales for general merchandise were allowed (2 weeks each, winter and summer). Otherwise sellers were not allowed to react to market demand anbd consumers not allowed to score deals under penalty of law.

Deutschland kann mich am Arsch lecken.

Porsche still has incentives they are just built into the leases or as marketing support that is unadvertised. I run into this all the time when people cross shop Range Rover Sports vs. the Cayenne as there is marketing and lease support for the Cayenne and none for the Sport.