Car Manufacturers Push Their Vehicles As Holiday Gifts

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 11, 1:19PM EST · Published Dec 24, 6:02AM EST

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Car Manufacturers Push Their Vehicles As Holiday Gifts — © Ford Motor Co.

For people who have more to spend than the anticipated average holiday sum of several hundred dollars, almost every car manufacturer has discounts for consumers who want to give a car, pick-up, or SUV as a gift. The prices run from $15,000 for small economy cars to nearly $100,000 for some luxury vehicles.

The car gift programs are not just ways to sell inventory for the holidays. In most case, the manufacturers off deal on 2018 models they want to move out of showrooms and off their lots to make room for 2019 models. All of the deals end right after the near year starts.

At the least expensive end of the holiday car sales ladder, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is offering 2018 Ford Escape with a monthly lease price of $129 for 24 months. A buyer has to pay $3,299 when the lease papers are signed. The deals are only for “Returning Ford Lessees”, which severely limits the universe of people who can get the arrangement before January 2.

At the higher end of the market, Mercedes is pushing 2018 models which need to be delivered by January 2. Among the benefits is that Mercedes will waive the first month’s payment. Customers have to buy or lease their cars through Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. The least expensive model available under the promotion is the 2018 CLA 250 Coupe with a monthly lease payment of $329 over for a 36-month arrangement. The buyer has to pay $3,777 when he or she signs the least. At the most expensive end of the holiday deals, Mercedes has to offer, a 2019 AMG C 63S Cabriolet carries a monthly less payment or $1,099. When the lease is signed, the customer has to come up with $6,793.

People who want to give an extravagant give can give a car. Most dealers are open Christmas Eve. For late shoppers, the deals are available until the start of 2019

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.