Saturday, May 1st, 2021
The all-round carefree package
New subscription trend is causing car prices to drop
After the slump in car sales at the beginning of the year, manufacturers are again attracting customers with discounts. According to car expert Dudenhöffer, the area of subscription offers as an alternative to buying or leasing is developing very dynamically. In the meantime, more and more electric models are available here.
More and more drivers are looking for their new cars on the Internet and not at dealers, as car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer writes in his latest CAR study. Above all, car subscriptions would enjoy increasing popularity. At less than one percent, their share of the overall market is still negligibly small. But according to data from the CAR Institute, the offer is growing dynamically. In April, the range grew by a further 36 models to 416, it is said. And not only is the selection of models growing, the prices are also becoming more and more attractive for customers, according to the study.
This is especially true for drivers with low no-claims discounts, i.e. novice drivers. For them, “these values are more advantageous than the purchase or a finance lease plus the maintenance costs,” says Dudenhöffer. According to the study data, the so-called CAR subscription factor of the best offers in April was between 1.1 percent and 1.4 percent. In other words: a new car customer paid between 1.1 and 1.4 percent of the offer price of the new car as a monthly rate. The offers include all costs except fuel.
According to the study, the cheapest offer is a Seat Alteca with a list price of 31,965 euros: the small SUV costs 299 euros per month with the Internet provider Like2Drive as a subscription. A Renault Captur is available from the same provider for 279 euros a month. Apart from fuel, there are no other costs for users. In addition to the low prices, according to Dudenhöffer, there is still something to be said for car subscriptions: “Less customer stress and more customer comfort thanks to all services from one source”.
The range of e-cars is growing
What is striking about the dynamic development is that more and more fully electric new cars – such as the Mercedes EQA – are now being offered as a subscription, continues Dudenhöffer. According to his study in March, the share of fully electric new cars in the overall market rose to a new high of 10.3 percent. There are also more and more new models that are now replacing older models. In the meantime, even the US electric car pioneer Tesla is rethinking: With 66 percent leader in the first quarter in the private customer business, it has so far pursued a strategy of stable value with regard to discounts and special conditions. However, new promotions, such as the flat rate in the Tchibo subscription for a Tesla, would now show that this sales policy is being weakened.
Overall, the German car market is moving more towards buyers again. As the CAR-Auto-Report also shows, many manufacturers also started classic discount campaigns again in April. It is said that the importers in particular, but also Ford and Opel, tried to stimulate their sales with higher customer concessions. Only VW and Audi remained rather “buttoned up” when it came to estates, writes Dudenhöffer.
Dudenhöffer cites the slump in car purchases in the first quarter as the reason for the increased incentives to buy again. They ensured that the so-called CAR index rose to 132 from 130 in March. Internet discounts for the 30 best-selling new cars have risen by 17.9 percent, while those for the 15 top plug-in hybrid models have even increased by almost 30 percent.
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