Discounts in the form of cashback incentives are gradually working coming into the Irish market. Cash incentives are now commonly used by car firms to bolster sales, particularly in the US and more recently in major European markets.
In an effort to secure a last minute surge in sales figures for the first quarter, Nissan is offering a €€1,000 tax-free cashback on any new Micra sold before March 31st. According to Paul O'Sullivan, marketing director of Nissan Ireland, the move is in response to market conditions.
Given the uneven spread of car sales here, with most sales occurring in the first four months and combined with the long order times for the Irish market, distributors here are keen to avoid been stuck with large numbers of cars after the new year rush. The greatest concern here is that if sales targets are not met by April, they may be left with the great numbers of cars until the following January.
On the Continent, a growing price war has been intensified by discounts offered on several major model ranges. Discounts are hard to measure in Europe because they vary by market, but now appear to be approaching US levels, where they average more than €€3,300 per vehicle at the domestic manufacturers.