employee discounts for all

[frostyone]

Following the sucess of these programs in the U.S.

Chrysler, and now Ford, announced they are extending the program in Canada.
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=dd14451c-9a92-4b4d-ab0d-f6fe22345f9e

Chrysler's Employee Pricing Plus program will also include up to $5,500 in additional dealer discounts.

The Ford Family Plan, will also include up to $5,000 in other discounts.

From Forbes on U.S. plan
A Ford Explorer XLT normally sells for $32,895 the sport utility vehicle would sell for $24,739 under the Ford Family Plan.
http://www.forbes.com/business/healthcare/feeds/ap/2005/07/05/ap2124513.html
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No word from GM , who started this in the U.S.
Toyota , Honda just laugh and say: no need. :)

[Kelisis]

It's the only way North American car manufacturers can move cars off their lots nowadays.

This is no different than zero % financing. If they focused on quality like the Japanese imports, they wouldn't have to resort to these financial incentives to move cars. In the end, these things end up hurting their bottom line. GM, for instance, is in deep financial trouble right now.

[frostyone]

There's worse to come:

1st Chinese cars arrive in W. Europe for sale

Priced at about half the comparable European version.
And Chinese made Hondas are on the way.
http://english.people.com.cn/200507/06/eng20050706_194405.html

[BillD]

It's the only way North American car manufacturers can move cars off their lots nowadays.

This is no different than zero % financing. If they focused on quality like the Japanese imports, they wouldn't have to resort to these financial incentives to move cars. In the end, these things end up hurting their bottom line. GM, for instance, is in deep financial trouble right now.
You ought to take a close look at the Toyota Tundra, and tell me that is a quality vehicle. Lousy door fit, misaligned hood, poor window seals, the sheet metal on the tailgate flaps when you close it, and the grill rattles if you thump the fascia with the flat of your hand. Some of these flaws were pointed out to me by the former Solara covertible weld shop manager, some were obvious to even the most casual observer. These seem to be things that import buyers are willing to put up with.

[Bogie]

You can only sell so many cars to so many people with so little money. 0% financing or not, you still need to make the "secure" income to cover the payments. Car makers are simply victims of the shrinking household paycheque. By shrinking, I mean it doesn't go as far as it used to.

House sales may be booming, but every year we have a new record number of bankruptcies. Keeping up with the Jones', who are keeping up with the Smith's who aren't doing that well either.

[Kelisis]

I saw a news clip last night about this and Dennis DesRosiers (a well-known car industry expert) basically said that it's just a short term fix to reduce bloated inventories and feels that it sends out the wrong message in terms of the quality of North American cars.

Having said that, you really can't blame Ford and Chrysler for doing so since GM reported a 41% increase in sales in June alone - the highest it's been in 2 decades.

Here's a good article on this:

http://autonet.ca/News/story.cfm?story=/News/2005/07/06/1119670.html

[Kelisis]

You ought to take a close look at the Toyota Tundra, and tell me that is a quality vehicle. Lousy door fit, misaligned hood, poor window seals, the sheet metal on the tailgate flaps when you close it, and the grill rattles if you thump the fascia with the flat of your hand. Some of these flaws were pointed out to me by the former Solara covertible weld shop manager, some were obvious to even the most casual observer. These seem to be things that import buyers are willing to put up with.
Well, I can tell you that as an import buyer, I wouldn't put up with any of that.

In my opinion, Japanese imports are of much better quality, but they are not infallible. You need to look at the big picture rather than a few isolated cases.

[burg]

Quality of "imports" is silly to say, considering almost all these cars are now built in North America. Parts for every car come from every where in the world, and really, they are all just built the same. I remember a website that had all the quality lists from every manufacturer, and overall, the domestics we're above, if not extremely close to the "imports" The stories you hear come from people who don't take care of their cars, or people who don't know that designs are never perfect, and if you have the first year of a new engine, you're gunna have problems. My dads Oldsmobile engine completely died, and we needed a brand new one, all because he never changed the oil, yet he blames GM.


The catch is in the designing. I remembering reading an article about how GM takes 4 years to remake a car, where Honda takes 3. These changes help move the car, and to the customer, increase their interest because it's not as "boring"

Thats my 0.02cents

[frostyone]

Update:

GM's jumped on the bandwagon.
Will offer employee discounts for all, in Canada.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2005/12/c0607.html