Car companies advertise with ever higher discounts to new car buyers. A current market survey has identified the highest discounts in four years. The incentives to buy are increasing, especially for combustion engines.
According to a market study by the Duisburg Center Automotive Research (CAR), price reductions for new cars are increasing. The monthly survey by market researchers shows an increased average discount in April compared to the previous month. For the 30 best-selling new cars, it was then 16.3 percent compared to the list price. In March, the discount was still an average of 15.4 percent, i.e. almost one percentage point lower.
Falling prices are also expected for e-cars
According to the study, there were recently significantly higher purchase incentives, especially for models from Audi, Ford and Seat. Industry-wide, rebate levels have reached their highest level in four years.
In addition, new car buyers are currently buying models with combustion engines more cheaply than in the past few months. According to the head of the study, Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, prices for vehicles with electric drives are also expected to fall in the coming months. The background is the pricing policy of the US electric car manufacturer Tesla. In the past few months, he had lowered his prices several times, especially for his Model 3 in the USA, but also in the important sales market of China.
In addition to the classic car purchase, the car subscriptions offered with insurance services have recently become cheaper, as CAR reports.
Delivery times are decreasing
But there is another thing that makes it easier for consumers to buy a car: Delivery times continue to fall. This is a consequence of the more relaxed situation in the supply chains, which have been burdened in recent years by the Corona crisis and then by the war in Ukraine. “The bottlenecks in car production during the corona pandemic and the chip crisis are history,” said Dudenhöffer.
Car manufacturers are also under pressure when setting their prices because many consumers are still waiting before buying a car. Real incomes, which have fallen as a result of high inflation in recent months, make major financial efforts, such as buying a car, more difficult for many citizens.