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AUTOMAKERS TURN TO DEALS
Thursday, June 26th, 2008 -- 1:51 pm
Posted by Riley Hebert-News Director
With the economy slumping and fuel prices exploding, car manufacturers—especially American ones—have been hit hard in recent months.
Americans have little disposable income to spend on new vehicles, and those that do are moving away from gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs.
Enter a few summertime promotions the "big three" hope will help.
Chrysler is offering their "$2.99 gas guarantee", GM is out with a zero-interest for 5 years promotion, which started this week and runs through Monday, and Ford is offering "employee pricing".
"It's a very short program," explains Kevin Schmitz of Gross Motors in Neillsville, a GM dealership, "Only six days it's going to be run, and they haven't run this for 6-years."
Local car dealers report seeing the same trends that have been reported nationally, Schmitz says.
While it's difficult to separate the two, Schmitz says gas prices have affected car buying more than the economy as a whole.
"It's just the public realizing, 'Hey, do we need to go to a more efficient car? Can we really afford it with the monthly payment we have currently. Are we in a negative situation with our vehicle?'" Schmitz explains.
While these factors have been hitting American automakers, even Toyota may scale back its sales target.
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