IS-SV

btw, 1984 was a longgggggg time ago. No relevance in today's market.

IS-SV

Nice but not good enough to make Saturn successful and profitable, certainly not good enough to have a advantage over top tier competition. None of us buy them, but we do rent them sometimes. The plastic Saturns of the good old days will be remembered as unique and not safe cars.

IS-SV

Also means huge depreciation in a few months for the suckers that paid the markup in the first few months, because soon afterwards discounting will erode resale values sharply.

mmarshall

Yes and no. Different eras, same practices. The difference, though (as you suggest) is that today, many of those same Japanese-designed cars that once brought markups in the 1980's are built here at home, both increasing supply and getting around the foolish import-car restrictions that exieted back then (Reagan was opposed to those restrictions on principle, but was forced, politically, to accept them).

But a standard Mazda sedan is one thing, a new Camaro SS, even today, is quite another. Until supply catches up to and/or exceeds demand (which may not happen for months, depending on the future of GM and the Camaro plant) you are almost certainly going to pay a mark-up for one. The question is only how much.

bruce van

The dealer/sucker markup is always discussed with the introduction of any new car. I remember meeting someone who paid a $3500 markup for the Solstice when it first came out.

Did we really expect dealers to not take advanatage of the opportunity of getting the most out of the new Camaro's introduction? It's sad that there are people who are willing to pay more for something just to be the first one on their block to own a car.

How does that saying go again? "A Fool and his money are quickly departed".

Dealers with integrity and think about long term customer loyalty will sell for MSRP initially. All others are short sighted and only think in short term gains.

8speed

^^^+1



I paid 60k for my F a year ago and now Toyota is giving these cars away for 5-10k below invoice


I will never buy a new car again..............when I could have waited and purchased an F with 4,000 miles for 45k

mmarshall

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on what actual used ones will be going for, and that, of course, depends on the supply-and demand situation for new ones. If new ones remain hard to get and keep commanding price premiums, so likely will used ones. In general, the fewer models of a new line are sold, fewer used ones (and, more important, fewer GOOD used ones) will be available as an alterntaive, increasing the value of each one. We saw that, for example, with the 2-seat Thunderbird, introduced in 2001. It not only remained scarce and expensive as a new car for several years, but relatively scarce and expensive used as well.

mmarshall

You can't compare a normal auto-market cycle, though, with what happened in the last year or so. This has been an extraordinary one-year drop in auto sales. Of course, none of us has a crystal ball, but, in general, the chances of seeing another 12 months like this are not good, so you may, in the long run, be changing your auto-buying habits for nothing, based on a single one-year experience that will not likely be repeated soon..

mmarshall

I helped a friend of mine get into a brand-new Solstice at list, back in September of 2006, when it had only been on the market a couple of months.(I even did a mini-review of it). He got the color and even (mostly) the options he wanted. But I don't take as much personal credit for that as much as I give it to the dealership who maybe (?) could have gotten more from someone else, but decided, for whatever reason, to give him a relatively good deal on it. (And, being a minister, maybe he got a little help from above as well )




Yep. Often, Gotta-Have means Gotta-Pay. But, fortunately, that is not always the case.




Exactly......see my notes above.

nn432100

A couple of reasons to not buy a rushed first gen car!

Cracked grill at high speeds
http://jalopnik.com/5238125/camaro-g...-at-high-speed

bad electrical
http://jalopnik.com/5232715/first-ca...rom-dealership

Tangerine

That is good observation, Mercedes does that as well. The AMG brakes were Brembo made (says so on the back of the caliper) but contains AMG logo on the front with silver paint.

Can't wait for your review.

IS-SV

Exactly. And some of those that are so impulsive that they couldn't wait a few months will be the first to try to unload them when gas prices spike.

wmb0000

There's no surprise that the Camaro SS will have a markup. It's a 38K car that rival other that cost twice if not more than.

Heck, there's a Hyundai dealership where I live that is currently mark up all their cars $3000 across the board. Whether anyone is paiding that markup is another question, but I do fell bad for the folks who are paying the $3k markup for a high volume Elantra,Tuscan,Amati and etc ...

KA8

iTrader: (1)

15K markup is crazy. I'd wait and pay under msrp. That's just me though. I never understood some people paying so much more than they should on a car. Remember when new C-class came out? People were paying thousands more to get a hold of one. But now you can get 'em under msrp. New camaro is a great car but looks like dealer markup may be a big blow to GM.

MrBruin09

I never understood this either? Why would you pay a mark up to be able to get the car first if you can wait 3-4 months or so and get the car at MSRP. I mean if someone is planning on keeping the car for 3-5 years what difference does it make in the long run?

One last thing if someone waited X amount of time for a new car to come out, would really waiting another 4-6 months for the car be that big of a deal?