For information purposes, I would like to ask how a dealer is able to discount a 95k car 25%+… do they lose money on the deal and just want to free up capital?
Also, what is the census on various manufacturers discounting ability?
Sorry, just want to know more about the industry…
There are a lot of vehicles that are way over priced for what they are, perhaps they’re making so many they can afford to discount more heavily, or they’re trading off former glories and struggling to sell. If you’re interested have a read up on FCA as they’re one of the most common car companies that discount heavily but only on certain brands at certain times. They own Dodge, Ram, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Fiat, Jeep, etc and a lot of those brands seem to stockpile and then do 20%+ discounts to clear stock. They often sit on stock for up to 1.5 years.
The main issue is sedans in general are seeing huge year on year sales decreases so even vehicles like BMW 3 Series, Audi A4 and Merc C Class can be gotten with 20% off if you time it right.
Sometimes they can also discount heavily on the car rotting on the lot, and lose money on the sale while making it up with factory to dealer incentives or step bonuses by meeting a quota of selling X amount of cars.
I think time is the biggest factor (out side of mileage). I have to imagine my F-Type had been sitting on the lot for over a year since I came in at about 27% off.
Its all MAGIC 
Basic economics of supply and demand, cars are depreciating assets so they are losing value the longer they sit on the lot, while on the lot the cash flow is tied up.
@genxteam with that said, I find it strange that dealerships won’t match prices within the same region
I suppose what I’m asking for explicitly, is what type of profit margins do dealerships/brands have with their cars? (A simple answer would be it depends on the car - which unfortunately,is not what I’m looking for).
I’ve gathered that Maserati would be the equivalent to negotiating with your local consignment furniture store, whereas dealing with Porsche is more or a rigid process.
Can someone elaborate on this observation?
That’s something that even a dealership GM would have a hard time calculating. I don’t think dealerships really calculate it on a per-vehicle basis because there are so many dependencies and every single car is different. They just know they are able to take certain losses in order to ensure they remain profitable month over month.
If you think the buyer’s process is confusing, it’s probably even worse for dealerships dealing with the manufacturer’s rebate systems to figure out how much of a kickback they’re getting from the manufacturer on volume of sales. The manufacturers are the ones who make this confusing - the dealerships just get blamed for it since they have to play by the rules set for them.
On top of that sometimes its not about profits… I know manufacturers that give incentives such as a trip (i.e. Hawaii) if incentives are met.