MONEY-SAVING MOMENT: Two heavyweight Asian automakers are rolling out the incentives at record or near-record levels in a grab for market share.
Both Honda and Toyota are struggling right now. Honda’s flagship car, the Civic, has been redesigned and both Consumer Reports and the auto writers hate it. So Honda is having trouble even getting people to come out to their dealer lots.
Edmunds.com and TrueCar.com both report that’s caused Honda to run the largest incentives ever in its history. We’re talking everything from zero-percent financing to cash back offers to subsidized lease offers.
Toyota, meanwhile, is not exactly at record levels with their incentives, but they’re still up there.
“In September, Honda was offering an average $2,350 on new vehicles, up 6.8% over September 2010, and Toyota was throwing in $2,250, up 7.1%, TrueCar.com says,” according to USA Today.
I had in late summer said it would take until late October for the deals to rebound after multiple crises. Now it looks like the deals on Toyotas and Hondas will continue through November and December.
Editor’s note: This segment originally aired Oct. 31, 2011.
