Chrysler Announces Rebates, Struggles To Get Rid of Unsold Stock

While some automakers try to get rid of the 2008 unsold stock by selling it to its managers (perhaps you remember the Toyota case), others put across rebates plans for this year.

Since we're in the season of sales and you can have clothes from the past collection at half the original price, the good news is that some car makers will apply the same strategy...obviously for their unsold vehicles. According to Autonews, Chrysler LLC will offer all the customers the same prices paid by employees and rebates of a maximum $6,000.

Chrysler seem to be fed up with the 2008 models, so they decided to launch a rebates program called "Employee Pricing Plus Plus” due to get under way this Monday on Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler vehicles. Obviously, the rebates apply only on 2008 models, while the price for the 2009 ones won't be reduced by more than $3,500. In addition, customers will benefit from interest-fee financing which will be available for as long as 48 months.

The reasons for the deployment of such a program regard (as expected) the reduction of the industry's highest stocks of unsold vehicles. In December last year, US sales dropped by 50 percent and the perspectives are not encouraging at all for this year despite cutting-down-the-production measures already taken.

After getting the $4 billion U.S. loan three weeks ago to avoid bankruptcy, Chrylser announced their extreme measures for 2009 in a struggling effort to get back on the floating line. Among these decisions, the Detroit automaker said it has heavily reduced the adverting and marketing budget this year trying to survive with less promotion.