Record Discounts on US Autos

During September, US vehicles were sold at an average discount of more than $5,000 below sticker price for the first time in history, according to online automotive information resource Edmunds.com. The sales-weighted average new vehicle sticker price was $30,104 and average net price was $24,817.

This average sticker price is $573 higher than in August 2004 and $878 higher than in September 2003, while the net price has risen only $45 since August and only $262 since September 2003. The hike in sticker prices puts the average discount from sticker to net price at a record high of $5,287, or 17.6% of average sticker price, according to data released last week with the Edmunds Price Index for new vehicles (EPI-N).

'For many manufacturers, constant incentives make the sticker price a meaningless number' according to Dr. Jane Liu, Vice President of Data Analysis for Edmunds.com.

Looking at specific market segments, Edmunds.com found trucks and SUVs experienced significant discounts in September, at 21.7% and 17.9% respectively, while passenger cars remained steady at 14.8%. The last time the sales-weighted average new vehicle sticker price averaged over $30,000 was in December 2003, when the discount was 14.5%, 3% lower and almost $900 less than it was in September 2004.

Edmunds.com, headquartered in Santa Monica, Ca., supplies over 800,000 pages of content for the auto sections of AOL and NYTimes.com, provides weekly data to Automotive News and delivers monthly data reports to Wall Street analysts.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.