CNW Reports Largest Ever New Vehicle Discounts Over July 4 Weekend;

Dealers Adding $1,500-plus to Manufacturer Incentive Levels

BANDON, Ore., July 7 -- The fourth-of-July weekend generated the largest-ever discounts from sticker prices and lowest automobile prices in more than a year.

The typical new-car transaction price between July 1 and July 6 was nearly 20 percent lower than sticker price after manufacturer incentives and dealer discounts. The total of manufacturer incentives was $3,946 per unit, but dealers added another $1,415 for a total discount of $5,361 per car and light truck.

This is the largest discount ever recorded by CNW Marketing Research since it began tracking transaction prices in 1989. The transaction price is the amount consumers actually pay for a vehicle rather than the Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price.

Compared to July 1 to 7 a year ago, the average MSRP was up 2.9 percent but the true transaction price was down an average of 1.4 percent. Total manufacturer and dealer discounting was up 24.8 percent.

Some of the best deals could be found at Mitsubishi and Mazda stores among Japanese brands; Mercedes and Saab among European brands and Ford Division dealerships among the original "Big Three" domestics.

"While GM may have the highest manufacturer incentive levels in the industry, Ford dealers are raiding their own gross profits to provide additional discounts or higher trade-in values necessary to match rival GM dealers at the local level," said CNW President Art Spinella.