New Car Deals – September Outlook

September 1, 2009

september-deals As usual, we are at the end of one month (August) looking and wondering about what new car deals and lease deals will be available in the following month (September).

And, as usual, car manufacturers are not giving us — or even their dealers — any advance information about upcoming incentives and rebates for September. Until we actually see the announcements, which will come shortly after the old incentive programs expire, we won’t know.

Most current incentives and lease deals end on August 31, some on September 1 (Audi), others end on September 8th (Honda and Toyota), and some extend through September (Volkswagen, Nissan, and Land Rover).

September incentives, we believe, will be interesting in the sense that the current automobile market is in an unusual state. Whereas general automobile sales are significantly down for the year (which is why we’ve seen very generous incentive programs in the last few months), the “cash-for-clunkers” program combined with car plant shutdowns have left many dealers with nearly empty lots and not much to sell.

This would suggest that September incentives might not be very exciting, or nonexistent in some cases. Car manufacturers create incentives and rebates, including low-APR loan deals, when inventories are high and sales are slow.

So the market is in a situation that is a little confusing — we have just ended a couple of months of high sales created by the ”cash-for-clunkers” program and now the program has ended. So how do manufacturers keep sales going at a good pace when they and dealers don’t have sufficient inventory of vehicles? Putting incentives on cars they don’t have doesn’t make a great deal of sense.

Of course, many manufacturers, particularly high-end luxury brands, didn’t benefit as much by the clunkers program as did makers of less-expensive fuel-efficient vehicles. And large trucks and SUV’s didn’t sell as briskly during the program. So there are still many makes, models, and styles that may still benefit from new incentive programs in September.

Furthermore, manufacturers such as GM are ramping up production as quickly as possible to re-supply dealer inventories. So it is entirely possible that new incentives will be announced soon to help sell the new vehicles coming off the assembly lines.

The bottom line, however, is that nobody knows at this time just how the incentive and rebate situation will play out for September. It is almost impossible to predict in such an unusual automobile sales market such as the one we find ourselves in right now.

You can get free discounted dealer price quotes on any make/model cars from Edmunds.com. The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.