The Chrysler Group is already offering the public employee-style discounts on cars and trucks — now it's sweetening the pot for its actual employees.
The Auburn Hills-based automaker is offering an additional $500 to $1,000 in rebates on select 2006 model Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles. The price adjustments mean Chrysler workers will have up to $2,500 in bonus cash on top of their employee discount.
Metro Detroit area dealers expect the incentive boost to lure Chrysler employees to showrooms. They have avoided dealerships in the past when employee pricing plans were made available to everyone.
“They say, 'We work for you. We should get a little more than the public,'” said Dan Frost, president of Southfield Chrysler-Jeep. “We're preparing to get swarmed by Monday. We have 130 cars out but before the end of the month, we expect to sell another 200.”
Chrysler's move could boost showroom traffic at dealerships in Metro Detroit and other areas where the automaker is a major employer and employee pricing is the norm.
“Last (summer), dealers nationally had great sales months but locally they didn't,” said Gordon Farhat, a general sales manager at Westborn Chrysler Jeep in Dearborn, referring to the employee pricing frenzy first sparked by General Motors Corp.
“Once the news gets around the plants, we should get a rush,” Farhat said.
Chrysler is the only automaker to offer employee pricing to everyone this summer. Competitors General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. have vowed not to offer employee discounts to consumers but have crafted summer deals along with foreign carmakers.
Last month, Chrysler had a 15 percent sales dip for June compared with the same month in 2005 when the automaker sold 220,032 units. Chrysler's inventory was at a 91-day supply compared to the industry average that's between 60 and 65 days.
In addition to the added discounts for employees, the automaker also is offering all consumers an extra $500 on its Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans and $1,000 on its Dodge Durango pickup and Chrysler Pacifica crossover, deepening the deal to between $2,500 and $4,000 per model. Chrysler buyers can combine the employee discount with zero-percent financing or cash rebates of up to $3,500, depending on the model. They can also return their new vehicles within 30 days with a financial penalty if they're unhappy with their purchase.
Chrysler spokesman Kevin McCormick said it is normal for the automaker to adjust pricing on any given incentive program active in a particular month.
“Really what we're trying to do is close the month out strong,” he said. “This falls in line with that.”
However, McCormick said adjusting rebates specifically for employees has nothing do with how Chrysler workers may be responding to the current employee program.
“This was just a target group that we wanted to offer some additional incentives to help the sales momentum,” he said.
As for how Chrysler's employee price-plus is faring, McCormick said feedback from dealers has been positive. That program, which started July 1, and the new cash bonus mainly aimed at employees end July 31.
