This is all very true. But when we're talking about a brand that frankly has one foot in the grave and is trying to mount a hail-mary comeback, it might make more business sense to resist temptation in favor of building long-term relationships with first-time customers who might have been going to BMW or Nissan or whatever dealers the last few times around, are used to being treated like people and not like a con artist's marks, and won't put up with this ****.

 

Thats just it, the marketplace doesen't demand it, the dealer creates an artificial demand...

No matter how hot a car may be I have never had the experience of walking into a dealership and seeing a handful of people clamoring over a new car with cash in hand, "Thirty five thousands!", next guy, "No forty thousand".

Simply haven't seen it, and until I do, Im going to say that it has everything to do with dealers wanting to keep a "come and get me" model on the lot while making a hefty buck, and nothing to do with market demand.

I mean really, whats the difference between if they sell the only car they have immediately at MSRP, or if they dont sell if for three months with a 10k markup, only one person gets it either way, the market has in no way been served by the markup.

 

Not to mention the MSRP on this thing is cheap! The V6 is really not very much more than a Honda Accord. I think if this car didn't say "Pontiac" on it, it would cost at least 5-10 grand more.

So, assuming there's a good demand for the car, there's going to be plenty of room from the dealers to bump prices.

 

The thing is... they will advertise the MSRP as, say, $27,500 and then when a potential customer visits the dealership, they see $40,000 and feel lied to. I know, MSRP is just suggested price, but it doesn't change the cheated feeling you get. When I purchased a 2004 GTO in September of 2004, it was the 4th GTO they sold in 9 months. Incentives on GTO really started in September. I asked my salesman how many GTO's they sold prior to the September incentives. He replied, "One." It was almost humorous how the price and attitude changed every six weeks or so after they received their first GTO in December of 2003. At first, I wasn't allowed to even touch it (!) much less sit in it or drive it. Then, a few months later, I was allowed to sit in it, but I could only test drive if I basically agreed to buy it beforehand (!!). Keep in mind, I was a multiple-repeat customer, 45 years old, driving a 2004 BMW 330Ci. They were incredibly arrogant, and as a result only sold ONE GTO over the next 8 months. I have absolutely no doubt that it will be same song, second verse with the G8 (that is, their arrogance, not necessarily the incentives).

 

Not really. The market is segmented so closely by price, that even a 5k jump makes these cars difficult to sell, and a 10k jump makes them completely uncompetitive. For 30k, the G8 is best in class, a runaway hit. At 40k, it's playing with SRT-8's and even a couple of BMW's and Mercedes.

 

You can get a decently-equipped 328i for under $35k. 5-series start in the low $40s. And of course a Charger R/T is like $31k before incentives, which are getting bigger by the day. At $40k a G8 is just going to be gathering dust, but I bet that's the route a lot of dealers will take -- at least for the first several months.

 

I think it'd be really interesting to see this:

GM must know the dealers that gouged on the GTO and Solstice. To those dealers, they get either none, or very few, G8s for the first year.

 

It's the American way.... Sacrafice tomorrow for what you can get today.

There is one dealer near me which did not raise their prices above MSRP with the GTO or the Solstice.

 

True, but this is a lot more car than 328i, and I don't think the Charger is a very good comparison either (other than they are both domestic). I don't have very much doubt that if the G8 was carrying Lexus or Acura badges that it would be in the mid-to-high 30s.

Point being, if the public recognizes this, the dealers will easily be able to tack a few thousand bucks on the sticker.

 

I think a Charger R/T with the Road and Track package is as close a comparison as you'll find anywhere in the world. It is almost exactly the same size and equipped almost exactly the same way. Note that GM's own press materials list their key competitors as the Charger and the Maxima. They aren't foolish enough to think they can go head to head against a 5 series with this thing given the current state of the Pontiac brand.

And you are NOT going to be able to convince anyone who isn't already a GM diehard that the G8 offers significant value over a Charger. The big differentiator is a manual transmission. That's really it.

 

Here's a scenario that I can see playing out a at a Pontiac dealer near you:

Customer: Hi, I'd like to test drive a G8.

Pontiac salesman: I want to point out that this G8 has thee 4 way independant shock suspension, like a $100,000 BMW, but this one is way better. It has a Corvette engine that Pontiac has modified to have 1 injector per cylinder. It's got the automatic which makes it sportier than the stick.

Customer: Can I take it for a test drive?

Pontiac Salesman: Since this is the only one that this whole region is getting for the next 6 months, you have to buy it first - only $5,000 over sticker.

Customer: But I see another 14 G8's on your lot.

Pontiac Salesman: Oh yeah, uhhmm, we're just storing those for GM....

 

I have to say that you are right on.

 

Exactly my point.

The interior looks a good bit posher, but admittedly that's going to depend a lot on option groups and how they are priced.

 

Charger is supposedly getting an interior upgrade for 08, for whatever that's worth.

 

I wish you could order the car straight from the factory, fly there and drive it home