Numerous Nissan Dealers Plan to Offer Leaf Below MSRP, Not Gouge Customers
By Scott Doggett August 9, 2010
T'was only a week ago that reports began emerging that some Chevy dealers would be offering the Volt for as much as $20,000 over the manufacturer's suggested retail price due to what they anticipate will be initial high demand for the extended-range plug-in hybrid sedan.
So we were more than a little skeptical when we saw posts at mynissanleaf.com discussion forum identifying Nissan dealers that promise to offer the Leaf battery-electric vehicle below MSRP.
One dealer - Fontana Nissan, located in the Southern California city of Fontana, 50 miles east of Los Angeles - even offers to sell the plug-in car for $1,000 less than the MSRP when the model starts being delivered later this year.
We called Fontana Nissan and were told there was "absolutely no catch. It's basically whatever the MSRP is on the vehicle you choose, it's $1,000 off of that," salesman Danny Truong said in an interview.
"The truth is, Scott, that not every dealership is going to do that. Most dealerships will sell at MSRP or above or add accessories and sell it to you. We're not going to do any of that. Instead of selling at MSRP, we're going to sell below MSRP," he said.
Other dealers have offered to sell the vehicle for $500 below MSRP, so it isn't as if Fontana Nissan is way out in left field. So why, you might wonder, will they discount when numerous Chevy dealers will resort to price-gouging on their initial Volts?
The difference is that General Motors will be allocating how many Volts each dealer will receive. That, in turn, spurs Chevy dealers to try to get as much money as possible for every one of the few Volts they initially receive from GM.
Nissan's approach is entirely different. Customers will get their Leafs on a first-come, first-served basis without regard to how many Leafs are sent to a particular dealer. Clearly, Fontana Nissan and other Nissan dealers are hoping their below-MSRP prices will result in them being able to sell many Leafs, with a reasonable profit for each one sold.
There's just one little catch: Because the Leaf can only go 100 miles per charge, ordering one from Fontana if you live 500 miles away might not make sense - even with the $1,000 savings.
Scott Doggett, Contributing Editor
LEAVE A COMMENT
Click here to comment on this entry.A second little catch is that if you have bought your Leaf elsewhere, your local dealer may be less than enamoured with you when you get it serviced.
Still, it is clear that Nissan are effectively holding the price down, whilst Volt are encouraging large dealer mark-ups.
Scott, this is ridiculous:
"possibly most Chevy dealers will resort to price-gouging on their initial Volts?"
Where in the %@#& do you get off suggesting "most" Chevy dealers will gouge their customers? So far, you have evidence that suggests only one will.
Get off the freaking Nissan Koolaid!
The more probable reality is MOST Nissan and MOST Chevy dealers will charge exactly MSRP.
Brain, earlier story said: "About 60 percent of prospective Chevrolet Volt buyers who'd contacted dealers were told that there would be a mark-up over the $41,000 MSRP of the extended-range plug-in hybrid vehicle, gm-volt.com reported today, citing its survey of about 1,300 people. Of those who were told about a mark-up, more than a third were informed that it would be at least $10,000, according to the blog." Regardless, I changed "possibly most" to "numerous" and linked back to the earlier piece.
At least you remembered to call me Brain. :)
Mr. Brain,
You davemart1, greenpony, docrings and other regulars keep us on our toes. Without you guys, we'd be flat-footed. And nobody'd want that!
Gotzip
I spent about 4 weeks before the actual opening of Chevy Volt orders trying to find any local Sacramento area Chevy dealer who would even talk to me about selling at whatever the final MSRP might be....NONE would even talk about taking a confirmed order AT MSRP. Every one wanted to "wait to determine market forces" and the suggestion was that the VOLT would be priced around here at "perhaps around $5000 above MSRP." That was so disgusting that i started to look into getting the upcoming Hyundai Sonata Hybrid instead. Finally I did find Fairfield Chevrolet who would take my VOLT order at MSRP. I expect to get the FIRST customer delivered Volt from their dealership, but there were AT LEAST six (6) closer Chevy dealers who are planning on doing onsite markups when their cars arrive....
ADD A COMMENT