When you say you aren't a fan, what is it you don't like or what would you prefer?
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Full disclosure: I know I'm in the minority here, so I don't expect any MNFR to attempt to appease me!
It's not that I don't understand incentives, or realise why they would be useful. Less popular product that isn't selling? End of the model year, and need to clear it out? Model that's long in the tooth? You are going to need to discount those products if you want them to sell (or come up with some other type of incentive, like the "free winter tires, golf clubs, maintenance" whatever).
BUT: When the product is brand new, and already has cash on the hood, it tells me as a consumer that the MSRP is grossly inflated. Two examples for you, as a Ford guy. I was interested in the 2013 Focus ST when it first came on sale. MSRP of $29,995, but it
immediately had $2000 off on the Ford website. Not "6 months after it went on sale", but when the build-and-price website was first available. So what does that tell me, as a consumer? That this long-awaited hot hatch, which should sell for at/close to MSRP for the early adopters, is priced $2000 too high!
Same thing for the 2015 F150 when it came out - brand new, revolutionary aluminum body, class leading (according to some anyway, I'm sure AirBalancer would argue!). And it too had multi-thousand dollar discounts from Day 1. So you're selling "the deal" as much or more than the actual vehicle.
Ford (and the rest of the heavy incentives players) obviously believe that selling the "deal" is an effective sales strategy. And obviously they are right!
So why am I not a fan of the strategy? Because as a consumer, I'm interested in making value comparisons when shopping for new vehicle (NOT simply "which is cheapest", or "gives me the best deal", but what vehicle, at its price point, I feel provides good value). And for MNFRs that use the inflate MSRP-big discount strategy, it becomes very convoluted to make those comparisons. And it becomes especially difficult when the MNFRs are not forthcoming about the discounts available. For example, why are GM discounts in the print ads, but not on their website? So after web comparisons, GM products aren't even on my radar. Or layers of incentives that are obfuscated behind the fine print?
So from my POV I'd prefer a pricing strategy that is more simplistic - lower MSRP with no incentives at launch, then slowly increasing incentives as the sales landscape changes. I'd don't want to have to think to myself when shopping at Cord's Super Ford Warehouse that "he's offering me $8500 off that F250, but I'm pretty sure he should give me $12000 off, because that's what my neighbour said he got off his F250 last year" Market the product at a reasonable price, where I think I'm getting fair value, and won't be second-guessing "maybe I could have gotten an extra $1500 if I waited for the SUPER-DUPER MEGA sales event next month..."
