Car dealers offer 'buy one get one free' deals
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Car dealers offer 'buy one get one free' deals
by GD on Wed Nov 05, 2008 9:12 pm
| Wednesday, 05 November 2008 | |
 Car dealers are offering "buy one get one free" deals as they desperately attempt to offload stock. Buyers were able to buy two Dodge Avenger SXT 2.4i models for £20,000 on dealer intermediary website Broadspeed.com last week. The site's managing director Simon Empson said Broadspeed.com crashed as it was flooded with 22,000 customers eager for the deal. "It's amazing that we've been trying to sell these cars online at half price for nearly a month and they were selling but it was nothing special," he said. "But when we made the deal two-for-one, we got 22,000 customers. It's the power of marketing I suppose." Empson said the website was currently negotiating the same offer with two other "more mainstream makes" but declined to name which ones. He added that despite the heavy discounts, he still thought the manufacturers were making a decent profit on cars sold in the UK. "A number of people have pointed out that in the US, these cars are being sold for significantly less than £10,000 at normal showroom prices," he said. "So you may ask how much profit the manufacturer is making in the first place." Empson said that while the offer did not make a huge profit for his site, the publicity alone had been worth it. "We're more or less happy to do the deal for no profit because the press surrounding it has been so great," he said. |
Re: Car dealers offer 'buy one get one free' deals
by Digger on Thu Nov 06, 2008 6:31 pm
Sales of new cars in the UK fell in October at their fastest rate for 17 years, industry figures have shown.
Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
(SMMT) showed new car sales were 128,352 in October, down 23% from a
year ago.
Car sales, an indicator of economic confidence, have been falling victim to the wider downturn.
The SMMT said 1.92 million new cars had been sold so far this year, down 8.7% on the same period in 2007.
The SMMT has also updated its sales forecast for 2008 as a whole down to 2.15 million vehicles.
The SMMT figures come as it was announced that production of the Mini car in the UK would be cut back.
Staff at factories in Oxford and Swindon have had their two-week Christmas shutdown extended to four weeks this year.
Mini sales during October were down 40% compared with a year ago - with 1,886 vehicles sold compared with 3,150 in October 2007.
"October has proved another difficult month for the UK motor
industry and action is needed to help restore consumer confidence and
encourage buyers back to the showrooms," said SMMT chief executive Paul
Everitt.
"Cuts in interest rates that are swiftly passed on to
consumers, scrapping planned increases in vehicle excise duty and
maintaining public expenditure on new vehicles are essential parts of
the package required by industry."
He added: "There is also a clear role for European action to support
continued investment in new, lower carbon vehicle technologies."
Buying delayed
The sales fall is the worst decline since a 31% year-on-year
drop in June 1991, and means new car registrations have fallen in all
but two months of 2008.
Sales of private cars fell nearly 29% in October, with business sales down 43.6% and fleet sales declining by 16.3%.
The Vauxhall Corsa was the best-selling car during the month,
with the Ford Focus the best-selling car for the period January to
October 2008.
Luxury car companies were among the worst hit for sales in the month.
The SMMT has previously said that it believes the market may not stabilise before the third quarter of next year.
Speaking before the October figures were released, Jaguar Land
Rover chief executive David Smith said people were putting off buying
decisions until they had "more confidence about which way the economy
is going".
Earlier this week, Jaguar Land Rover said a voluntary redundancy scheme was to be extended to hundreds of workers.
After the release of the latest SMMT figures Paul Kenny, general
secretary of the GMB union, said: "These figures demonstrate that the
recession is well and truly with us and is now taking hold."
Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
(SMMT) showed new car sales were 128,352 in October, down 23% from a
year ago.
Car sales, an indicator of economic confidence, have been falling victim to the wider downturn.
The SMMT said 1.92 million new cars had been sold so far this year, down 8.7% on the same period in 2007.
The SMMT has also updated its sales forecast for 2008 as a whole down to 2.15 million vehicles.
The SMMT figures come as it was announced that production of the Mini car in the UK would be cut back.
Staff at factories in Oxford and Swindon have had their two-week Christmas shutdown extended to four weeks this year.
Mini sales during October were down 40% compared with a year ago - with 1,886 vehicles sold compared with 3,150 in October 2007.
"October has proved another difficult month for the UK motor
industry and action is needed to help restore consumer confidence and
encourage buyers back to the showrooms," said SMMT chief executive Paul
Everitt.
"Cuts in interest rates that are swiftly passed on to
consumers, scrapping planned increases in vehicle excise duty and
maintaining public expenditure on new vehicles are essential parts of
the package required by industry."
He added: "There is also a clear role for European action to support
continued investment in new, lower carbon vehicle technologies."
Buying delayed
The sales fall is the worst decline since a 31% year-on-year
drop in June 1991, and means new car registrations have fallen in all
but two months of 2008.
Sales of private cars fell nearly 29% in October, with business sales down 43.6% and fleet sales declining by 16.3%.
The Vauxhall Corsa was the best-selling car during the month,
with the Ford Focus the best-selling car for the period January to
October 2008.
Luxury car companies were among the worst hit for sales in the month.
The SMMT has previously said that it believes the market may not stabilise before the third quarter of next year.
Speaking before the October figures were released, Jaguar Land
Rover chief executive David Smith said people were putting off buying
decisions until they had "more confidence about which way the economy
is going".
Earlier this week, Jaguar Land Rover said a voluntary redundancy scheme was to be extended to hundreds of workers.
After the release of the latest SMMT figures Paul Kenny, general
secretary of the GMB union, said: "These figures demonstrate that the
recession is well and truly with us and is now taking hold."
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