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Detroit's Big Three automakers all sweetened their U.S. sales incentives on Oct. 1, offering more cash rebates and interest-free loan deals to help lure customers into showrooms, according to a Reuters report.
General Motors Corp. was the first to announce its October discount program, offering "bonus cash" on many pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, Reuters said.
Chrysler has blamed the high cost of incentives for a shocking $1.1 billion second-quarter loss. And cutthroat price competition has forced the Big Three into new cost-cutting programs, with Ford Motor Co. announcing this week that it will eliminate about 3,000 salaried jobs in the United States, in addition to job cuts at its unprofitable European operations.
The incentives unveiled on Oct. 1 include cash rebates totaling up to $4,500 on some models and interest-free loans for up to five years on most 2003 and 2004 model-year passenger cars and trucks, GM said, according to Reuters.
GM, the world's largest automaker, has led Detroit's profit-eroding incentive war for the past two years as it sought to bolster demand for new vehicles and offset lackluster economic growth, Reuters noted.
Ford said it too was offering some enhanced incentives on 2003 and 2004 models and the Chrysler unit of DaimlerChrysler said it was rolling out its best deals ever on Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles including cash rebates as high as $5,000, according to Reuters.
GM's new incentive program includes "bonus cash" of $500 or $1,000 on many of its highly profitable pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, Reuters said.
The Big Three automakers have been forced to offer ever-larger incentives on pickups and SUVs, their strongest products, as Asian and European automakers come out with new models, Reuters said. Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s new Pathfinder Armada full-size SUV officially goes on sale on Oct. 1, and later this year Nissan will launch its new Titan full-size pickups. Both vehicles are Nissan's first in those segments.
GM's incentive program includes zero percent financing for loans of up to five years, and 1.9 percent for six-year loans, for both 2003 and 2004 models, according to Reuters.
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