Rates & Incentives Archives

Incentive Spending and Program Count Remains Low, Even as a Holiday Approaches 06/30/2021 With an Independence Day holiday fast approaching, industry observers might rightly expect a new round of special, can’t-pass-up Fourth of July incentives at dealerships across the U.S. But according to an analysis of June program data by the Cox Automotive Rates & Incentives team, consumer cash – the guaranteed cash-back money that any buyer qualifies for and is often the fodder of headline advertising – has… Read Article

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2019 Was a Record Year for Incentives 01/10/2020 Auto sales in 2019 came in above the magic 17-million mark, according to our team at Kelley Blue Book, but just barely. Vehicle sales of 17,042,363 kept the streak alive, but that number includes medium duty pickups and exotic cars. As our Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke notes, it was fleet sales that got us to 17 million. Fleet volume was up last year, likely at a… Read Article

Rates & Incentives Market Insights Commentary & Voices

Year-End Incentive Complexity Is A Real Grinch 11/19/2019 Auto manufacturers are cranking up incentive programs for the year-end close-out. The advertised offers look very compelling, but the level of conditions to qualify for the most attractive mix of programs could not be any more complex. In other words, the process of shopping, comparing, and selecting a vehicle is more confusing than ever. Making matters worse, dealers are under great pressure to make sense of… Read Article

Rates & Incentives Market Insights Commentary & Voices

Incentive Program Volume Trending Toward Record Year 09/03/2019 Our team continues to track an elevated number of incentives programs this year, a trend we saw again in August as volume came in ahead of year-ago levels. With inventory up and sales slowing, the higher raw number of programs we’ve followed each month in 2019 is mostly a result of automakers being smarter with their incentive programs, offering incentive deals at the VIN level, on older… Read Article

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Labor Day Weekend is New-Vehicle Clearance Time 08/28/2019 How will new-car dealers and their manufacturing partners reduce bloated inventory on dealer lots? We’ll get a hint this coming weekend, as the Labor Day holiday puts focus on the trifecta of new-vehicle incentive strategies for clearing lots of older models. Right now, dealers are juggling 2018 (reported to be 3.5% of new-vehicle sales last month), 2019 and 2020 models in inventory. The U.S. economy continues… Read Article

Rates & Incentives Market Insights Commentary & Voices

2019 is the Summer of Incentives 08/01/2019 July 2019 is expected to be officially the hottest month in history, temperature wise. The same might be said for the level of sales incentives offered by the automakers. This time of year, we often see a slowdown in the number of incentives available, as model year changeovers and strong spring sales have dwindled vehicle supply on dealer lots. That was not the case last month. (See chart below). The volume of unique incentive programs ran high in July 2019, as they have all year with the OEMs battling a trifecta of… Read Article

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