Yes, the discounts are the same the employees get. Luckily I gave out my 2 employee discounts for friends already this year. The ones I gave out earlier not only gave people the employee discount, but any incentives on the vehicle were still valid...much better deal.
Actually, this deal is nothing special. You will find that this is valid only for 2005 models, and ones that are not super popular models (does not apply for the Mustand, Corvette, 300C, etc.). It's really just a ploy to rid the dealers of the 2005 inventory before the 2006 models hit the lot. Happens every year, but instead of giving larger incentives GM came up with the "employee discount" advertisement. Worked really well with Chrylser and Ford following. The discounts are very similar to what was already out there, and pretty much the same you would have gotten in incentives for 2005 models (incentives are always kicked up this time of year to get rid of inventory). For you Japanese car buyers, they will not follow. They may add some incentives, but not to this amount.
Really, the deals are not a whole lot different except the poor souls that already had the discounts. It costs those people a few grand per vehicle since they got the incentives plus the discount. Now they just get the employee discount, which everyone gets.
jwinslow said:
I honestly had not considered buying a ford, GM or chrysler at all until I heard these promotions... and I'm still leaning towards japanese cars that actually work after a few years. I was surprised to see a few american cars make the JD power quality lists... tho the mustang was the only one I was interested in. The german car mystique sure has fallen off the charts with this surge in quality from japan and now even slightly from america... mercedes made a very bad call when they merged with Chrysler IMO.
Drat, the 2006 mustang isn't available for discount :(
I'll stick with my scion tC plan ($17K loaded, toyota quality, great looks and solid performance):
http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/features/0411scc_scion/
To this quote, actually Scion has had some quality issues. Not up to usual Toyota standards. As for American vs. Japanese cars (well, not Japanese, really just Toyota, Honda and Nissan...the rest suck for quality) there is not as major of a gap anymore. After three years, on average, most American cars may have 1/2 defect per vehicle more than the average Toyota (the industry benchmark). There are many GM cars that are more reliable than Japanese vehicles. This could turn into a really long reply, but please don't look at American vehicles from 10 to even 5 years ago.
If you have any specific questions I am more than willing to help out. Let's just say I live the industry day in, and day out. I have worked for 2 major auto manufacturers, one Japanese, and one technically German (I think you can figure that one out).
I personally buy American every chance I get, although for electronics there is not always a choice in the matter. I won't preach about it, and I feel free trade can be a good thing. It's just a personal choice that I feel helps build our economy.
