Get some...
Posted on 07/05/2005 6:11:42 PM PDT by Flavius
AP Ford Jumps on Employee-Discount Bandwagon Tuesday July 5, 6:47 pm ET By Olivia Munoz, Associated Press Writer Ford to Join Chrysler, General Motors in Allowing Customers to Buy Vehicles at Employee Rates
DETROIT (AP) -- Ford Motor Co. jumped on the employee-discount bandwagon Tuesday, announcing it will join GM and Chrysler in allowing customers to buy vehicles at employee rates.
Ford's decision follows a huge sales surge General Motors Corp. saw last month because of the heavily promoted discount, which drove monthly sales to their highest total in nearly 19 years. Chrysler said Friday it also would match such programs.
ADVERTISEMENT GM has given the same discount it provides to employees to anyone buying most new GM cars or trucks since June 1. The promotion, which was set to expire Tuesday, will remain in effect until Aug. 1. It includes all 2005 GM vehicles except the Chevrolet Corvette, Pontiac GTO and GMC medium duty trucks.
"It's the summer selling season and that first month of the deal helped (GM) clear out a lot of their 2005 models," said analyst Ron Pinelli, president of Woodcliff Lake, N.J.-based Autodata Corp. "To continue with it just makes good sense."
Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday its "Ford Family Plan" will let all customers buy most of its 2005 models at the employee rate beginning Wednesday. The promotion excludes the Ford Mustang, GT and the Escape hybrid. It also will run through Aug. 1.
"Consumers made it pretty clear in the month of June that they wanted a clear plan for purchasing their cars," Ford spokesman David Reuter said.
A Ford Explorer XLT that normally sells for $32,895 costs employees $28,739. After existing customer cash incentives, the sport utility vehicle would sell for $24,739 under the Ford Family Plan. A popularly equipped Lincoln Navigator that normally would sell for $51,145 will be available for $42,133.
At GM, a popularly equipped 2005 Buick LaCrosse CX, which normally would sell for $23,495, costs $19,944 with the discount, and a new GMC Envoy would now sell with a discount of more than $5,990.
DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group had announced Friday its plan to also match the employee discount incentive starting Wednesday and running through Aug. 1. The plan excludes several models, including the popular Chrysler 300, the Dodge Viper and the Dodge Magnum, Chrysler spokesman Kevin McCormick said.
GM, the world's largest automaker sold 550,829 vehicles last month, up from 374,970 in June 2004. That's a 41 percent increase after accounting for differences in the number of selling days between last June and this June, a sharp contrast from the single-digit growth the company has posted so far this year.
Almost all the growth came from light truck sales, which jumped 69.2 percent to 375,092 vehicles. The Colorado, Equinox, Tahoe and Trailblazer models posted some of the largest sales increases.
Ford said domestic sales fell 2.5 percent in June from a year ago and dropped 4.3 percent for the first six months of the year despite hits like the sporty Mustang and growing sales of its crossover vehicles.
Chrysler's sales were up 1.1 percent in June, but the company saw an 11 percent drop in demand for its popular Chrysler 300C sedan, and a 1.5 percent decline in overall car sales. Chrysler's total sales were up 5.2 percent for the first six months of the year.
Gary Dilts, Chrysler's senior vice president of sales, said the company decided to match GM's offer because customers were attracted to its simplicity.
The discount's popularity came from a combination of aggressive marketing and the appeal of getting an inside deal, said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.
"The general public views the employee discount as pretty good no matter what business you're in," he said.
The automotive industry also is looking at ways to cut down on large incentives, he said.
"Over the last few years car companies were raising prices to give bigger incentives. Now, they're moving toward more realistic pricing with reduced incentives," he said.
Still, Cole said offering an employee rate to all buyers is a bold step.
"This is a real bombshell. Rarely do we see this type of impact in such a short time," Cole said of GM's soaring June sales. But he warned that more sales now could mean fewer customers later.
In Tuesday trading on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of GM rose 15 cents to close at $34.80. Ford shares finished up 9 cents at $10.40, while DaimlerChrysler shares fell 38 cents to $40.10.
Get some...
Sorry. Can't get none o' that on this deal. Mustang is excluded fro this prgram.
Mods need to fix the headline to reflect that.
Darn I guess i jumped the gun.
Sorry man.... : (
Ford Motor Co. Supports the Homosexual Marriage Movement
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1413512/posts
LOL!
"Gary Dilts, Chrysler's senior vice president of sales, said the company decided to match GM's offer because customers were attracted to its simplicity."
What customers were attracted to was not having to deal with weasel maggot slimebag sales people trying to pork them on price. And a discount is supply and demand, instead of maintaining an illusory MSRP by manipulating finance rates and bogus cash back offers.
all ford mustangs for this model year (195,000) promo or no promo are already sold out
The new Mustang is a SWEEEEET ride! Unfortunately, they aren't available under this plan.....they can't build enough of them right now.
If they made a car that wouldn't die after 140,000 miles and if they didn't inflate the price by thousands of dollars so that you could get a "rebate", I might consider one.
Naaa. The UAW is just a cash cow for the Rat Party.
I think they mean "GT500". "GT" is a Mustang, that and their V6.
I am waiting for the 2006 models. Need to save up the cash, for one thing, but I'm also working on the theory that any small design flaws will be ironed out. (No evidence for this, it's just my weird hunch.)
No problem. We all dream, now and then.
That's what I liked about Saturn. They took a bigger margin, but at least they were honest and not pushy about gouging you.
Unfortunately their cost-cutting games have ruined the car, culminating in the multiple-recall disaster known as the Ion. Not to mention their logo could sure use a redesign to appeal to the "Under age-98" demographic.
Wow. glad I got mine early.
GM is excluding the Corvette as well. So it is not just Ford.
Ford GT:
http://www.fordgt.net/gt_photos.html
Ford Shelby GT500:
http://media.ford.com/products/presskit_display.cfm?vehicle_id=1269&press_subsection_id=421&make_id=92
Ford Mustang GT:
http://www.fast-autos.net/ford/05fordmustang.html
Maybe I'll actually visit a dealership, the last two new cars I bought left me feeling like I should have smoked a cigarette and gotten a long wet kiss, cause I sure felt like I got ####ed!
And that was after getting a "better" price than the company buying service guaranteed.
I think "The Big 3" are going to have to do better than just price, the darn things wheels want to fall off before 150,000, so even with this deal their chances are pretty slim on selling me another one.
Why don't they save the world some confusion and name them so they don't all sound alike?
I wish they'd explain the lack of rear independent suspension on the Mustang. I think they're waiting to improve future versions, just so they can sell a few more in the long run.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
![http://users.rcn.com/patton.1/DSC00013.JPG"](http://users.rcn.com/patton.1/DSC00013.JPG"){kind=link}