All current Hyundai incentives expire on May 2, 2011. 

These leases are made possible by reducing vehicle prices, reducing finance cost (lease money factor), and boosting estimated lease-end residual values. The combination of all these factors means you get a low monthly payment without need to negotiate. In fact, you could not get these kinds of deals by negotiating with a dealer — who doesn’t have the ability to change money factor or residual values, only price.

If you don’t understand car leasing or how to determine if you are a good leasing candidate, we recommend you visit LeaseGuide.com where you’ll find not only a great (free) car leasing guide and expert advice, but also a useful lease calculator with which you can determine your monthly lease payments based on changes to various factors.

Here are some of the current Hyundai special lease offers. All these leases have been rated “Good” to “Excellent” by LeaseGuide.com.

2011 Hyundai Elantra 1.8L GLS Auto – $169/month, 36 months, $1699 due at signing.

2011 Hyundai Elantra Touring GLS Auto – $199/month, 24 or 36 months, $1999 due at signing. (Hint: the 36 month lease is the better deal)

2011 Hyundai Equus Signature – $739/month, 36 months, $4999 due at signing.

2011 Hyundai Genesis Sedan 3.8L V6 Standard Package – $399/month, 36 months, $2298 due at signing.

2011 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T Manual – $259/month, 36 months, $2699 due at signing.

2011 Hyundai Santa Fe GLS Manual – $299/month, 36 months, $2699 due at signing.

2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.4 GLS Auto – $199/month, 36 months, $2399 due at signing.

2011 Hyundai Tucson 2.4 GLS FWD Auto – $259/month, 36 months, $2499 due at signing.

2011 Hyundai Veracruz – $359/month, 36 months, $2299 due at signing.

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Much of the reason for the decline this month was precipitated by the huge earthquake in Japan in March. Many Japanese car manufacturers were knocked offline and many of those who recovered are still not at full capacity. Parts suppliers were also affected, which in turn affects car manufacturers, even those in the U.S. All of this has created shortages in new-car inventories at dealers, which obviates the need for heavy sales incentives. 

For example, we’ve seen only a trickle of new incentives from Toyota. Honda, Acura, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and a few others had already announced April incentives before the quake. These incentives still appear to be in place and have not been withdrawn, but we expect near-future incentives to be at best modest, and at worst non-existent.

The best deals continue to be on leftover 2010 models at dealerships. Dealers must get rid of these older models and are offering rebates, low-interest loans, and factory-to-dealer cash to help move them. However, expect choices to be limited, especially as more people find they can’t buy the new 2011/2012 model they want.

Here is a summary of some of the current incentives for April 2011:

Mazda – Modest rebates ($500) on many models, 0% APR loans on selected models, and a few good lease deals on specific styles of the 2011 CX-7, CX-9, MAZDA3, MAZDA5, MAZDA6, and MX-5 Miata. Good factory-to-dealer cash is also being provided on most leftover 2010 models (up to $4000 on 2010 CX-8 and 2010 MX-5 Miata, up to $3500 on 2010 Tribute and 2010 CX-9, up to $3000 on 2010 CX-7, up to $2500 on 2010 MAZDA5, and up to $2000 on 2010 MAZDA3).

Hyundai – Modest to fair rebates on many models — generally in $400-$500 range except $1500 on 2011 Genesis; $1000 on Veracruz, Equus, Sante Fe). Higher rebates are available on many leftover 2010 models. 0% APR interest rate loans are available on the Veracruz and Genesis, and slightly higher rates (1.9%) are available on a number of other models and styles.

Nissan – Good rebates are being offered this month on a few models/styles (up to $3500 on 2011 Titan, $2500 on 2011 Pathfinder, $2000 on 2011 Frontier, $1500 on 2011 Maxima). Larger rebates are offered on remaining 2010 models. 0%/0.9% APR loans for up to 60 months are also available for many models. Nissan is also offering healthly factory-to-dealer cash ($2000) on 2010 models of 370Z, Maxima, Pathfinder, and $1750  on the 2010 Xterra, and $1500 on the 2010 Versa.

Infiniti – Low interest rates (0% APR on 2011 G37 Convertible; 0.9% on 2011 EX, FX, G Coupe, G Sedan; and 1.9% on the 2012 M, 2011 M37, M56). Special lease deals have been announced for some styles of the 2011 EX, FX, G Coupe, G Sedan, 2012 M, 2011 M56, and M37. Large factory-to-dealer cash is offered on many 2010 models — EX35 (up to $4000), FX35 (up to $6000), FX50 (up to $7000), G37 (up to $3000), and QX56 (up to $7000).

BMW – Special leases are now available for the 2011 1-Series, 3-Series, 5-Series, 7-Series, X3, X5, X6, and Z4. Low interest rates (as low as 0.9% APR) are offered on most models. The 2010 6-Series comes with an incredible $15,000 factory-to-dealer cash deal.

Ford – Very modest rebates, averaging about $500, even on 2010 models. Low-interest loan rates in the range of 0% APR to 2.9% APR are also being offered.

Chrysler – Good factory-to-dealer incentives on some leftover 2010 models — $6750 on 2010 Chrysler 300, $5500 on 2010 Chrysler Sebring and Town and Country, $3750 on 2010 Chrysler PT Cruiser.

Edmunds.com.The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.

You can get free price quotes on any of the above vehicles from

We’ll show you some of the best and cheapest car lease deals available now. The Honda deals expire on 5/2/2011 but the others are only good for March and end either on 4/4/2011 or 3/31/2011 depending on the car company.

Nearly all of the special leases require a down payment (cap cost reduction) as well as the first month’s payment and official fees. These up-front costs, all together, are called “cash due at signing.”  All are for 36 month terms and 12K miles per year except where noted.

Honda, however, offers their special leases two ways — one with the normal up-front costs, and another with $0 up-front (no first payment, no security fee, and no down payment, but you still have to pay official registration and tag fees).  Of course, your monthly payment is higher with the $0 up-front cash option but it doesn’t change the value of the deal. A good deal is still a good deal with or without a down payment.

Here are some of the cheap leases — under $190/month — we’ve found for March 2011 (and April for Honda):

2010 Honda Fit 4dr Hatchback (1.5L 4cyl 5A) – $139/month, $1999 due at signing 0r $190/month, $0 due at signing

2010 Honda Civic DX-VP 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl 5A) – $139/month, $1999 due at signing 0r $190/month, $0 due at signing

2011 Nissan Sentra 2.0 SR 4dr Sedan (2.0L 4cyl CVT) – $139/month, $1999 due at signing

2011 Suzuki SX4 LE 4dr Sedan (2.0L 4cyl 6M) – $149/month, 39 months, $1999 due at signing

2011 Honda Civic LX 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl 5A) – $149/month, $1999 due at signing

2011 Honda Fit 4dr Hatchback (1.5L 4cyl 5A) – $159/month, $2499 due at signing

2011 Nissan Versa 1.8 S 4dr Hatchback (1.8L 4cyl 4A) – $159/month, 39 months, $1999 due at signing

2011 Subaru Impreza 2.5i 4dr Sedan AWD (2.5L 4cyl 5M) – $178/month,  42 months, $1177 due at signing

2011 Volkswagen Jetta S 4dr Sedan (2.0L 4cyl 5M) – $179/month,  39 months, $1999 due at signing

2011 Nissan Cube 1.8 S 4dr Wagon (1.8L 4cyl CVT) – $179/month, 39 months, $2499 due at signing

2011 Suzuki Kizashi S 4dr Sedan (2.4L 4cyl 6M) – $189/month, 39 months,  $2531 due at signing

2011 Mazda MAZDA3 i Sport 4dr Sedan (2.0L 4cyl 5A) – $189/month,  $1783 due at signing

2011 Mitsubishi Lancer ES 4dr Sedan (2.0L 4cyl CVT) – $189/month, $2688 due at signing

These deals are all rated “Excellent” by LeaseGuide.com. Many other lease deals being offered at this time are not shown here — many under $200/month. The car companies offering these other good deals are primarily Honda and Subaru, with BMW and Mercedes at the high end of the payment scale (although still good deals), and a few other companies in between. 

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Chevrolet

The Chevrolet incentives come in the form of large rebates and low-interest or 0% APR loans on most models. Factory-to-dealer cash is also being offered on many models. As you may know from reading posts on this web site, factory-to-dealer cash is a kind of “hidden” rebate to dealers that can, and usually is, turned into price discounts for customers. 

Here are some of the best deals from Chevrolet. These deals end on May 2, 2011.

2011 Chevrolet Avalanche – $3000 rebate or 0% APR loan

2011 Chevrolet Malibu – $2500 rebate or 0% APR loan — $1000 factory-to-dealer cash

2010 Chevrolet Aveo – $2500 rebate or 0% APR loan — $2500 factory-to-dealer cash

2010 Chevrolet Cobalt- $3000 rebate or 0% APR loan — $3000 factory-to-dealer cash

2011 Chevrolet Colorado – $2500 rebate or 0% APR loan — $2000 factory-to-dealer cash

2011 Chevrolet Corvette – 1.9% APR loan — $3000 factory-to-dealer cash

2010 Chevrolet Corvette – $4000 rebate or 0% APR loan

2011 Chevrolet HHR – $3500 rebate or 0% APR loan — $4000 factory-t0-dealer cash

2011 Chevrolet Impala – $3500 rebate or 0% APR loan — $5000 factory-to-dealer cash

2011 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Hybrid – $5000 rebate or 0% APR loan

These are some of the best deals (especially the Impala deal above) that we’ve seen on Chevrolet vehicles, making them well worth your attention if you are in the market for a new car. There are many other deals that are not shown here.

You can get free price quotes on any of the above Chevrolet vehicles from Edmunds.com.The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.

Volkswagen

These deals expire on 5/2/2011.

The special car lease deals being offered are all for 36 months (except where noted), allow 12,000 miles per year, and require a modest down payment as well as first month’s payment and offcial fees to be paid up-front.

All the current Volkswagen lease deals are rated “Excellent” by LeaseGuide.com.

Here is a sampling of the best Volkswagen deals for March and April:

2012 Volkswagen CC – 1.9% APR loan rate for up to 60 months — $299/month special lease

2011 Volkswagen CC – 0% APR loan rate for up to 72 months — $289/month special lease

2010 Volkswagen CC – 0% APR loan rate for up to 60 months 

2011 Volkswagen Tiguan – 1.9% APR loan rate for up to 60 months — $279/month special lease

2011 Volkswagen Jetta S – $179/month, 39 month special lease

2010 Volkswagen Jetta – 0% APR loan rate for up to 60 months

2011 Volkswagen GTI – 1.9% APR loan rate for up to 60 months — $279/month special lease

2011 Volkswagen Touareg – 1.9% APR loan rate for up to 60 months — $519/month special lease

2010 Volkswagen Touareg – 0% APR loan rate for up to 60 months

2011 Volkswagen Golf – 1.9% APR loan rate for up to 60 months — $199/month special lease

2010 Volkswagen Golf – 0% APR loan rate for up to 60 months

2011 Volkswagen Routan – 0% APR for up to 72 months — $299/month special lease

2010  Volkswagen Routan – 0% APR for up to 72 months

2010 Volkswagen New Bettle Convertible – 0% APR for up to 72 months

You can get free price quotes on any of the Volkswagen vehicles from Edmunds.com.The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.

Volkswagen

Additionally, other models that don’t get 0% APR loans, do get low-interest (typically 1.9%) loan deals. Not all styles get such deals.

The above mentioned lease rebates (typically in the $500-$1500 range) only apply if the customer leases through Volkswagen’s captive finance company, VCI. The lease deals include reduced money factors (finance rates) and improved lease-end residual values to create low monthly payments.

If you don’t understand how car leasing works, we recommend that you read the Lease Guide at LeaseGuide.com.

Here are a few examples of current Volkswagen lease deals:

2010 Volkswagen Jetta – $199 a month, 36 months, 36K miles total allowance, $1999 due at signing

2010 Volkswagen Routan S - $289 a month, 36 months, 36K miles total allowance, $2499 due at signing 

2010 Volkswagen New Beetle – $199 a month, 36 months, 36K miles total allowance, $1999 due at signing 

2010 Volkswagen GTI – $279 a month, 36 months, 36K miles total allowance, $2299 due at signing 

2010 Volkswagen Golf – $199 a month, 36 months, 36K miles total allowance, $1999 due at signing

Nissan

The Nissan deals are all for 2010 model vehicles and all deals end on 4/30/2010. And of course, as usual, you can take either the low interest loan deal or the rebate, but not both.

These Nissan incentives are fairly agressive and are genuinely good deals if you are in the market for one of their vehicles.

Here is a summary of the current Nissan deals being offered for April:

Nissan Altima – $1000 rebate or 0% APR for 12-36 months, 1.9% for 48-60 months

Nissan Armada – $4000 rebate or 0% APR for 12-60 months

Nissan Frontier – $2000 rebate or 0% APR for 12-36 months, 0.9% for 48-60 months

Nissan Maxima – $2500 rebate or 0% APR for 12-60 months

Nissan Murano – $1250 rebate or 0% APR for 12-36 months, 0.9% for 48-60 months

Nissan Pathfinder – $2500 rebate or 0% APR for 12-36 months, 0.9% for 48-60 months

Nissan Rogue – $1250 rebate or 0% APR for 12-36 months, 0.9% for 48-60 months

Nissan Sentra – $2000 rebate or 0% APR for 12-60 months, 1.9% for 72 months

Nissan Titan -  $4000 rebate or 0% APR for 12-36 months, 0.9% for 48-60 months

Nissan Versa – $1500 rebate or 0% APR for 12-36 months, 0.9% for 48-60 months

Nissan Xterra – $2250 rebate or 0% APR for 12-60 months

You can get free price quotes on any of the above cars from Edmunds.com.The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.

Most of the current incentives end on March 31, 2010, which means the absolute earliest we’ll hear about any new incentives will be April 1. However, most manufacturers wait a few days into the month before announcing new deals. This allows them to analyze the results of last month’s plan, which helps them figure out what to do with this month’s plan. If they see some things that worked, they’ll continue or improve them. Things that didn’t work or were too expensive will get discarded.

[ UPDATE 4/6/2010: As of this date, major car makers have not yet announced incentives for April 2010. Are they waiting to see what the other guys, like Toyota, are going to do first? Somebody has to make the first move. On the other hand, sales in March were much improved, which might mean fewer incentives this month. But, again, nobody knows for sure. ]

[ UPDATE 4/7/2010: Toyota announced today that they will continue most March incentives, including 2 years free maintenance,  through April. ]

Unfortunately, there is no “secret” source of information about new monthly incentive programs. Car makers don’t even tell their dealers until the day the programs become effective. We will know when the dealers know. Keep watching this web site for new announcements. We’ll tell you which programs are worth considering and which are not.

As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, we expect some excellent incentives this year (and we’ve already seen some good examples) because new car sales still haven’t recovered from the dismal situation in 2009. Although a recovery seems to be taking place, it’s happening very slowly and car manufacturers will surely want to help it along with an offering of incentives.

The frustrating part for automotive consumers is whether to accept from among the current deals and buy (or lease) now — or is it better to wait and hope the deals will get better sometime later. There is no clear answer to that question. Since we don’t know exactly what future deals (if any) will look like, it’s best to make your decisions on what you do know — what you know now. If you are in the market for a new car now and can get a good deal now, go for it and don’t worry about the future.  Enjoy your new car while others are still waiting and hoping.

Honda

What is interesting about these deals is that they are offering what they call a “0-0-0-0″ deal. This means zero down payment, zero due at signing (except for local registration and tag fees), zero security fee, and zero first month’s payment.

These are 36 month leases and 12K miles allowance per year (36K miles total).

These are genuinely good lease deals, as are all Honda deals, that include a nice price (cap cost) discount, a nice low money factor (interest), and a nice high lease-end residual. Combined, these factors make for a low monthly payment. If you don’t understand how car leasing works, we strongly suggest you read the Lease Guide at LeaseGuide.com.

Here are some of the current Honda “0-0-0-0″ lease deals:

2010 Honda Accord Coupe – $280 a month

2010 Honda Accord Sedan – $250 a month

2010 Honda Crosstour – $390 a month

2010 Honda CR-V – $300 a month

2010 Honda CR-V 4WD – $310 a month

2010 Honda Civic Coupe – $210 a month

2010 Honda Civic Sedan – $190 a month

2010 Honda Element – $320 a month

2010 Honda Fit – $250 a month

2010 Honda Insight – $240 a month

2010 Honda Odyssey – $300 a month

2010 Honda Pilot – $350 a month

2010 Honda Ridgeline – $460 a month

If you are willing to make a down payment (cap cost reduction) and make your first month’s payment on these deals, you can lower your monthly payment substantially.

If you don’t understand car leasing, we strongly suggest you learn how it works and how to determine if it is right for you. We recommend that you visit LeaseGuide.com for a free car leasing guide.

However, in these times of slow sales for all, BMW manages to slip in some pretty good deals without being too obvious. The current deals — good for March and April 2010 — include various combinations of  ”Spring Drive Credit” (wouldn’t want to call it a rebate, would we), owner loyalty cash credits,  low-interest loans, and special lease deals.

In some cases, BMW makes it a little complicated with some models that have “secret” factory-to-dealer cash (they call it Build Out Dealer Cash) that can’t be combined with some special financing and lease deals. Furthermore, some deals are only available in selected regions of the country.

Here are some examples of current BMW new-car deals:

BMW 128I coupe – $1500 credit and 0.9% APR loan for 24 months (2.9% for 60 months), or $339 a month special lease

BMW 135i couple – $1500 credit and 0.9% APR loan for 24 months (2.9% for 60 months), or $399 a month special lease

BMW 335i sedan – $2500 credit and 0.9 APR loan for 24 months (3.9% for 60 months), or $419 a month special lease

BMW 335i coupe – $2500 credit and 0.9 APR loan for 24 months (3.9% for 60 months), or $439 a month special lease

BMW 550i sedan – $1500 owner loyalty cash, 2.9% APR loan for up to 60 months, $6000 factory-to-dealer cash, or $809 a month special lease

BMW 650i coupe –  2.9% APR loan rate for up to 60 months, $10,000 factory-to-dealer cash, or $1129 a month special lease

BMW Z4 sDrive351 convertible – $2500 credit and 2.9% APR loan for 24/60 months, or $679 a month special lease

You can get free price quotes on any of the above BMW vehicles from Edmunds.com.The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.