The Detroit Big Three are extending sales and promotions, increasing rebates and offering low or no interest financing to get car shoppers in the doors of their dealerships in the hopes of selling their vehicles.
All three are suffering in the sales department and are hoping that recent incentives will help.
Last week, Chrysler extended its $2.99 gas promotion until the end of July and added $1,000 rebates on four SUVs, reports the Detroit News.
Ford and GM’s promotions (employee pricing and no-interest financing) end today.
"Incentives will continue on an upward trend compared to the last couple years," said Bob Schnorbus, chief economist for J.D. Power & Associates. Car companies, he added, "must do everything they can to stimulate sales, and it won’t be an easy sell because consumers’ ability to buy has really been hammered."
If you’re in the market for a truck or SUV, you could see rebates as high as $7,000 on some models. Smaller car and hybrid models will see smaller rebates, but with the high gas prices, these models are selling better than their SUV and truck counterparts.
Expect to see incentives and rebates stick around for a while as Detroit’s Big Three attempt to move some inventory off their dealers’ lots.
GM and Chrysler executives said their June incentives were a success and prevented a bad June from being even worse.
