Consumer Car Buying Advice Blog

Suzuki Motors comes up with free gas for the summer plus cash for those bad credit car loan buyers that can drive a stick while Kia turns up the competitive heat.

The hits just keep on coming

Here at Auto Credit Express we take note that even with the advent of the summer selling season (if you can call it that this year), automakers continue to pile on the incentives in an effort to build on what little sales momentum there is in a effort to grasp some kind of sales victory from the jaws of last year’s sales defeat.

Yesterday, we wrote about the new program from Hyundai as well as a limited-time offer from GMAC. Today, two more manufacturers weigh-in with their latest offers. Both are totally independent of a credit score, so even buyers that get financed with a bad credit car loan can take advantage of these offers.

The kind of gas you’ll like

For its part, Suzuki has decided that an increase in dealer floor traffic will result if it offers buyers three months of free gasoline. How so? Retail customers that purchase a new 2009 Suzuki SX4 Sedan or 2009 SX4 Crossover model will receive a pre-paid gas card whose amount covers the average gas consumed by each model based on driving 1,000 miles per month using EPA mileage estimates and the average price of a gallon of gasoline determined by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (in short, equal to $270 for the SX4 Sedan/Sport and $290 for the SX4 Crossover).

In addition, buyers that are so inclined can also take advantage of an additional $2,000 in customer cash on all SX4 models equipped with a manual transmission.

The “Free Gas for Summer” promotion began yesterday and continues through August 31st, while there is no word from the company as to whether or not the manual transmission customer cash will continue past the end of July.

Customer Loyalty or Competitive Bonus Cash

In the mean time, Kia Motors America has revived its “Customer Loyalty” and “Competitive Bonus Cash” programs that it allowed to expire at the end of 2008.

Both programs are in addition to its already generous customer incentives and cover the 2009 Optima, Spectra, Sportage and Sorento as well as the just-introduced 2010 Kia Forte sedan. The programs are an either/or choice (you can’t pick both) so current Kia owners will normally choose the owner loyalty.

If you aren’t a current Kia customer, but currently own a competitive vehicle, you still have a great shot at qualifying for the “Competitive Bonus Cash” program, since the number of qualifying competitive vehicles for each model ranges from 37 for the Sportage to 53 for the Optima. Competitive Optima buyers qualify for $1,000 in additional cash, while the other cross-shoppers will garner an additional $500.

The Bottom Line

Although the summer selling season is traditionally the time when most manufacturers try and back off on their rebates and incentives, the current economy has forced most of them to continue and even enhance their programs. All in all, it’s a good time to be in the market for a new car.

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