BMW Pulls Out All Stops - Waives 3 Months Payments If Current Lease Owners Step Up And Buy Again

BMW is up to its usual tricks once again. Discounting in the name of higher sales. It amazes me what BMW will do in order to get the sales lead.

Steep discounting might give BMW the top spot in global and U.S. sales, but it certainly won't give BMW the largest profit number, which is MUCH more important than the global sales figure.

"You can lease a Audi 2.0 quattro for only $369 a month, and if you previously drove an Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, MINI, Saab or Volvo Audi will pay $1,000 towards the lease or purchase of a new, unused 2012 or 2013 A4."

Yet Audi offers a cheaper lease rate for a A4 2.0 quattro than a comparable 328xi, and will offer a $1000 incentive if you drive a competitors car...not MUCH different.

germanNut .. really? Audi has been offering big incentives for months to bring in people from other makes. Mercedes has been doing that for months now & in some cases up to $5000 depending on the car. How is this different? At least BMW is trying to pull out the stops & keep their current clients loyal to the brand. Every little bit helps.

I believe Lexus does the same thing, it's called business and volume goals. I don't personally want BMW to lose their focus on quality in their focus to be the #1 premium brand, that didn't work so well for Toyota now did it... How cool for those leasing 2010s that they can skip three payments and get the 12s

WOW and i thought there was a typo and this article was for Hyundai..

Desperate much BMW??? Mercedes is given'em a luxurious beatdown in the U.S

lol, desperate, it's called competitive, MB would do the exact same thing so it's clear who you prefer

Not "would" -- Mercedes "is" doing the same thing, and has been for over a year (I'm not sure if they're still doing it but recently they were offering to waive up to EIGHT payments for current Benz lessees. EIGHT. Insane.)

Check out these lease ads between the two brands and it becomes very clear who is putting a bazillion dollars on the hoods of their cars:

http://www.herbchambersbmwofboston.com/financing/lease-offers.htm

And here's the same dealers Mercedes ad:

http://www.boston.com/cars/specials/herb_chambers_mercedes/motorcars.html

A modestly equipped 328xi is $399/mo w/ $3k down IF you qualify for the $750 Owner Loyalty rebate. They're advertising a Mercedes C300 4MATIC for $299/mo with $2865 down. So the BMW is 33% higher, with more more down, and that's IF you qualify for loyalty. If you don't, add $21 to the payment. Oh, and the MSRP's are within $1k of each other.

A 528xi is $569/mo, again WITH the loyalty, and $590 without. An E350 4MATIC is $479.

Every brand is doing stuff like this now, whether it's BMW, Audi, Lexus, etc. Mercedes, however, has taken it to a whole new level. And while it may help them "win" the mythical sales title in the U.S., they are dropping further behind Audi and BMW in the global race, AND costing themselves hugely in terms of profits. So go for it, Benz, chase that crown! Enjoy the invisible trophy.

EVERY sedan in MB's lineup is significantly OLDER Than BMW's

MB should be the one who has to run this Hyundai-like promo, but guess what They arent becasue their old models are still outselling Bimmer's new ones lol

Sorry, I assumed when I replies that you not only could read but that you could comprehend it as well. My mistake, won't happen again.

what does this have to do with desperate ? my cousin just walked into a porsche dealership and if you have a competitors car and want a panamera, they will make your last 3 payments totaling no more than $4500 ( 1500, per month)
they all need to be competitive

I love seeing MB and BMW go to such extremes in order to win the "U.S. sales crown." Globally, Audi is the new trend-setter.

Just look at China, the world's largest auto market, where Audi is dominating BMW and MB thanks to its entry into the market long before BMW and MB.

Look at Audi's decision to build a new plant in Mexico instead of the U.S. thereby reducing production costs. MB and BMW might follow Audi to Mexico:

https://readingeagle.com/mobile/article.aspx?id=416300

Look at Audi's sales growing faster than BMW's both in the United States and globally. MB's sales have fallen far, far behind Audi's globally.

Look at Audi generating a higher profit than BMW, despite lower global sales.

"Just look at China, the world's largest auto market, where Audi is dominating BMW and MB thanks to its entry into the market long before BMW and MB."

Both Audi and BMW are dominating Benz in China. BMW is catching up to Audi in China, too, which is now the largest market for both brands. BMW's China sales were up 59% last month to 29631. Audi's China sales were up 20% last month to 35512. Benz was up 10% to 16806. Sometimes being the fresh new kid on the block is good (kind of like what Audi is here in the U.S.). FYI, BMW is actually gaining ground on Audi in China much faster than Audi is gaining on BMW in the U.S. So by your own argument, if Audi is dominating BMW in China, then BMW is absolutely ass whupping Audi in the U.S. (btw, I don't think either statement is true, I'm simply pointing out the inconsistency of your statement).

"Look at Audi generating a higher profit than BMW, despite lower global sales."

True, but the profits are pretty close, which is amazing considering Audi gets to share development costs via parts and platform sharing with all the other brands under the VAG umbrella. BMW being the parent brand does not have the economies of scale Audi enjoys under the VAG umbrella. But both are doing very well profit-wise. Mercedes, on the other hand, seems intent on claiming the U.S. sales title at all costs, profits be damned. I've never seen a luxury brand throw the kind of money on their cars that Mercedes is right now.

@Lex, Audi is generating higher profits than BMW but the two are close. Lexus is nowhere near either Audi or BMW in terms of profits. Toyota (intentionally) doesn't split Lexus out in their annual reports (they disclose units, not profits) but while Lexus is a major player in the U.S., it is outsold roughly 4-1 by BMW and Audi worldwide. Their profits are essentially completely reliant on U.S. sales, and the general industry consensus is Lexus loses money for Toyota worldwide, hence not splitting them out in the statements. Benz profits have been falling just as fast as their marketshare, and frankly I'm not sure what their current plan of throwing insane money on their cars here is supposed to accomplish. They may very well finish #1 in the U.S. for a year or two because of it but worldwide they have gone from #1 to #2 to #3 and now a distant #3 in only a few years time (their gap from #3 to #2 and #1 has more than doubled in less than a year), and buying leases forward with payment waivers and offering ridiculously subvented leases only gets you two things -- hundreds of millions of dollars in lease residual writeoffs three years down the road and "single serving customers" who retreat from the brand when they can't get the same insanely low lease payment the next time around. I don't get it, but then I don't work for Mercedes so I guess I don't have to.

Excellent logic in your post JRobUSC.

@JRobUSC. Agreed with david999. A very good synposis of the problems facing Mercedes-Benz and to a certain degree other carmakers chasing volume over quality sales. The use of high incentives upfront, although a good way to get an uptick in sales, has a long term negative impact on residual values and overall brand value. Although, Audi does offer incentives, Audi AG has displayed a more conservative and disciplined approach which has resulted in a healthy button line and has protected residual values for its owners over the course of ownership which improves brand value and quality. Obviously, Audi AG wants more volume (look at the rampant model proliferation) as does BMW and Lexus, but Rupert Statdler has stated that Audi will not chase volume over quality sales.

Also, it seems that Mercedes-Benz has somewhat lost its vision of what they are. I am not sure they can continue to push themselves as THE premium luxury brand when BMW and Audi are doing as good if not better these days as luxury players. With Audi and BMW, their corporate visions and cultures seem easily defined and continuous over time, not to mention Audi and BMW are laser focused in terms of competitiveness and vision. I wish I could load the link of the op-ed from Autoextremist on Mercedes-Benz and this exact issue. It was dead-on on how MB is going to lose to Audi and BMW due the lack of vision globally.

BMW: Please contact me when you reduce price of vehicle by 12 payments.
I'll sign!