Re: [Fwd: avant pricing]

[Linus Toy <linust@mindspring.com>]

>From: Scott 20191668 Bermes <scottb2460@earthlink.net>
>
>Correct about the holdbacks and incentives, but according to
>www.edmunds.com and a few other sources, Audi doesn't participate in
>holdback programs.  I don't know how accurate the edmunds
>holdback/incentive data is, but its updated daily (or is it weekly?) and
>recently had information on Audi incentives.  I don't know if there are
>other sites which have holdback/incentive data.  

keep in mind that there are two types of incentives--those targeted at the
consumer and those intended for the dealer and/or salesperson.  

the consumer oriented incentives are easy to find out about--they're
typically the subject of advertising campaings and posters/flyers in the
dealership or in your mailbox.

the dealer and/or salesperson incentives are a whole 'nuther ballgame,
depending on the manufacturer and what they want to do.  at least one
manufacturer i know of (project my company did for them) has a very
sophistocated sales tracking system that matches up actual sales rates
against available inventory.  when something isn't moving, they might start
up a little contest for dealers or even $500 to the sales person for each
unit moved.  this is not simply "all whizzygo models sold between now and
the 2nd tuesday of next week" but much more fine-grained:  how about
"bright yellow 2 door whizzygo's with 4-speeds (but not 5sp or autos) in
states south of the 41st parallel through the end of next month?"  yes,
they know that much about what is selling where and what they produced to
know the pipeline.  cool stuff (if you're into marketing incentive programs
and the systems to run them).
--linus
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* linus toy                       email:  linust@mindspring.com      *
* mercer island, wa                                                  *
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