In accordance with standard industry practice, the Mercury brand's website lists whatever promotions and rebates are ongoing. They are, of course, only telling buyers part of the sales story. The "Ford for Sexy Urban Professional Ladies with Style" brand is also sending out rebates via email called "private cash." It's not clear who is receiving the $500 coupons and why, but several have gone to people that don't have Ford family vehicles. They are more than just a standard incentive; each coupon has a recipient-specific code that's not transferrable outside of the household. This kind of targeted rebate has some benefits for the company. For one thing, the offer stays outside the general news stream (at least, it did until right now). For another, it's been reported as "making recipients feel really special and sort of warm inside." Not surprisingly, the Mercury Mariner Hybrid (a.k.a. the only Merc with a modicum of interest from the public) is excluded from the under-the-table incentive. If I was shopping for a car, I'd definitely take one of these golden tickets down to the Mercury dealership and test drive a Milan V6 (wait, already did that).
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Private Cash? Isn’t that for tipping at a “Gentleman’s” club?
Holy moly, they gotta come up with better names for this stuff.
Sanjeev—On your lead—lets call it “Funny Money” ! Does this money buy special time with Jill Wagner as well ?
Oooooooooh, I am sooooo not going there. :)
Erm, I hope we’re not going to turn this thread into a sexist free for all……?
We HAVE to find out the demographic targets for this! Please, please, please.
I am betting they were shooting for a demographic that would normally not be caught dead in a Mercury.
Can Mercury even be saved at this point?
500 bucks?
not enough for anybody to even notice
at least make it more than the “freight” charge
Two months ago I got a certificate from Ford with the special code for $750.00. I did not buy the Ford truck I was looking at Dodge gave me 40% off sticker on a Ram 1500. I hope they don’t go BK, if they do, oh well, the truck was really cheap and I will get the miles out of it.
These responses make my point in the Focus comments. People have such a low perception of Ford products, they won’t bite unless the discounts are huge.
How can Ford spend an extra $500-1000 to upgrade the plastics etc. if the customers still expect the huge discounts? They’d just be further in the hole.
Ford has a slew of targeted rebates and sends rebate coupons to all sorts of people. Most people throw them out as junk mail, but if you’re in the market, why not take the extra cash?
How can Ford spend an extra $500-1000 to upgrade the plastics etc. if the customers still expect the huge discounts? They’d just be further in the hole.
The beancounters won’t like it, but the process needs to begin with a conscious decision to lose money. It will be necessary to make an excellent product (surprise and delight the customer), price the product at the lower end of the market (to make it a notably good value), and to market it with better service and perks in order to increase consumer satisfaction and reduce risk.
That’s it in a nutshell. In other words, follow the business plan of Hyundai’s example, except do it better than they are, and then brace yourself for a few years of losses while customers figure out that the products are better and worth the risk.
I look at this way — FoMoCo should take all of those years of SUV profits, and commit them now to turning around the company, with the expectation that it won’t happen overnight. Since profits are supposed to be reinvested in the business, anyway, consider it as an obligatory course of action done in the ordinary course of business, albeit too little, too late.
Those discounts and rebates are just the natural market doing what it does best… forcing US cars to be sold at their perceived value. As long as they are viewed as second rate, then they will not get premium dollars for the product.
It is just a very real way of the buying public telling the 2.8 how they feel about the cars they make. They don’t want to pay top dollar for a sub-par product backed by a sub-par dealer and manufacturer.
@yankinwaoz:
The problem is that the market is completely distorted. The public isn’t telling Ford what they think of Ford’s cars; it’s not like people are paying $12k for a Focus because they looked the car over and they figured that was its value. In reality, they think the Focus is work $12k because last month that’s what it sold for, dealers are desperate, and they assume the price will drop again in the future so there is no reason to pay more now.
I really do wonder what formula they will be using for distributing these? I wish it was random so I could have a chance at receiving and discarding it like a jury duty notice.
The public isn’t telling Ford what they think of Ford’s cars
That’s exactly what the public is telling them. Consumers have a limited amount of money to spend, and their choice to spend it in some places and not spend it in others provides an outstanding indicator of what they want and don’t want.
There’s no distortion in the market, just follow the money. If the market likes a product a lot, it will whip out its collective checkbook and buy more of it. If they love it, there will be a shortage of it, and rebates won’t be necessary. If they don’t like it, the inventories will pile up, incentives will set out like stacks of cordwood, and it will be fire sale time at your local dealer.
The market is the most honest measure you’re going to get. People can talk the talk all day, but at the end of the day, it’s how they spend and withhold their money that tells you what they’re really thinking.
I agree with others. I’d love to see the demo on the recipients.
I also agree with others that $500 isn’t enough to make me blink on the average purchase price of my last 10 cars.
Justin,
The affect of what you are saying is real, but it tends to be marginal over the long haul. For one thing, the discounts started because the cars were not selling.
To stop the bleeding, they must stop overproducing, or build a product that can sustain a higher price at the desired volume. It’s simply supply and demand.