Business

Sweet deals lure car buyers, lift sales in March
by Magdalena Rosova

Toyota's huge discounts lured thousands of buyers in March. Others automakers are trying to match Toyota's offers and so are also coming up with good deals. Discounts are expected to last at least another month. Toyota is trying to repair the damages from safety recalls. In order to repair its reputation Toyota offered great incentives last month, such as low-interest financing and free maintenance for returning customers. The deals lured so many car shoppers that Toyota's sales in United States jumped 41 percent. Toyota sold only 1,683 cars less then General Motors Co., which is the closest Toyota has ever come to overtake GM in monthly sales. Attempts of GM and othe! r automakers boosted the industry's sales by 24 percent compared to the same month a year earlier. Industry incentives were about $2,700 per vehicle last month. A year ago automakers had the worst sales in nearly 30 years. Toyota offered incentives of $2,256 per vehicle, which is the highest level ever. It seems that April will become a month of big incentive battles. Good prices may continue for many moths. High demand for used cars has also encouraged resale values. Toyota's incentives will stop on Monday, but some will be extended for longer. But Toyota still faces questions about safety record of its cars. The federal government will investigate to find out whether electronics caused the problem in Toyota's cars or not. Incentives will stop in few moths as automakers have limited their production and so do not have large number of cars in inventories. Drop of incentives will slow down the sales as customers are trained to wait for good deals.

related! story (sgx16909): http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6205G220100302...

by Magdalena Rosova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

Cantell TV is the fastest growing provider of digital broadcasting coupled with telecommunications, allowing people to easily control, view, upload and share digital content through proprietary interface coupled with free phone calls. Cantell TV is committed to delivering infinite choices to your world of entertainment at the tip of your fingers.

posted by Blog TechSource @ 11:59 AM