GM Wins the Incentive Race in October

Paul Niedermeyer
by Paul Niedermeyer

Edmunds, the site that’s so not going to be sleeping in Lincoln’s bedroom, has revealed their estimates for October sales incentives. Not surprisingly, the automaker that’s been hogging Honest Abe’s pallet and has been missing saying, “we’re number one [globally],” can claim this number one spot. GM spent $4,277 of somebody else’s dollars per unit to move the metal and help buy that 4% sales increase. Hey, don’t complain—they can afford it unlike those wimpy little guys at Honda, who could only cough up $508 per unit. What’s wrong with them anyway? Oh, they’re actually profitable. OK. Moving right along, let’s check in with the rest of the gang:That other automaker trying to hang onto its little corner of Lincoln’s mattress came in a strong number two: Chrysler spent $3219 on average. Ford was the domestic laggard, at $2909. Nissan is the import brand leader with $2505. Hyundai spent $1751, less than the industry average of $2468. Toyota was saved the embarrassment of last place by coughing up $1338 per unit.

But that’s only the majors; among all manufacturers, Mini appears to be the biggest loser with only $58 spent per. But Mini sales were down so that didn’t pan out so well. But Subaru was 41% up, which makes their paltry $262 average incentive the true loser in this game. (Thanks to KixStart for the kick start.)

Paul Niedermeyer
Paul Niedermeyer

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  • Bunter1 Bunter1 on Nov 04, 2009

    TexN-chuckle, that's certainly what it feels like. Gary Numan-Yup, were payin' others to buy second rate cars. And GM's 4% isn't all it appears to be, it is over last October when they were off 45%! Even CryCo (now Fiatsco) beat them by 10% that month. I would be nearly impossible for them not to beat that month. Bunter

  • Logans_Run Logans_Run on Nov 04, 2009

    I wonder when they are going to ask us to pony up and pay for the warranty repair for those inferior cars? Oh that's right, they already have it because someone said they would cover the warranty claims.

  • Stein X Leikanger Stein X Leikanger on Nov 05, 2009

    How many billion dollars is GM's lousy management willing to spend in order to pretend they're not doing a lousy job managing GM?

  • Edgett Edgett on Nov 05, 2009

    With all the hysteria over government support of car makers, let's not forget that trucks and SUV's with a GVW in excess of 6000 lbs have been receiving taxpayer money for years in the form of a $24,000 Section 179 deduction. This government rebate helped GM, Chrysler and Ford get into the predicament to begin with. Before that, it was that the same standards which everyone else met for passenger cars were not met by the invented category "light trucks". Nothing new here...

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