Car and Driver - USA (2020-04)

APRIL 2020 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

General Motors launched Keep America Rolling,
its 0 percent financing plan, mere days after
September 11 , 2001 , as a way to juice car sales
and help stabilize the U.S. economy following
the terrorist attacks. The program did exactly
what it was intended to do: keep Americans buy-
ing new vehicles at a time when the world
seemed like a scary, unpredictable place. But that
morphed into something else—an aggressive, addictive
way of doing business. It launched an arms race among
carmakers desperate to keep factories running at full
tilt and dealers happy.
“The industry was forever changed when those
incentives came in,” says Mike Ramsey, senior director
at Gartner’s CIO Research Group. “[GM’s 2001 program]
essentially created a whole new tier of incentive spend-
ing that was well beyond what was normal before.”

0% Financing

FREE MONEY!

Rather than wean themselves

from these deals, though, manufac-

turers upped the dosage, potentially

at the expense of their own bottom

lines. Despite 20 18’s rising interest

rates limiting the availability of interest-free loans, the trend

of offering easy-to-market large cash rebates remains. The

Big Three have, at various times, used “employee pricing for

everyone” plans. In 2009 , Hyundai rolled out the first itera-

tion of its Assurance program, which promised to buy back

your car if you lost your job. And 2020 marks the first time

that incentive spending averaged more than $4 000 at the

start of the year, according to J.D. Power.

“It’s like coffee,” Ramsey says. “It has a stimulative

effect, but that comes with downsides.” —Sharon Silke Carty

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product will launch a revolution

a single sad copycat (Chrysler PT

Cruiser), and which one will fail spec

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the future. Herewith, several that look

“IT LAUNCHED

AN ARMS RACE

AMONG CARMAKERS

DESPERATE TO

KEEP FACTORIES

RUNNING AT FULL

TILT AND DEALERS

HAPPY.”

Cadillac Escalade EXT

(2001) and Lincoln

Blackwood (2001)

Luxury pickup trucks!

Hahaha! Haha—oh.

Lamborghini LM002 (1986)

Even if Porsche, Bentley,

Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin,

and Ferrari had all intro-

duced SUVs in 1990, we’re

betting the market still

wouldn’t have been ready.

AMC Eagle

(1979)

A jacked-up,

four-wheel-

drive station

wagon?

Pfft! As if!

Cadillac’s V-8-6-4

engine (1980)

An early cylinder-

deactivation scheme.

Might have success-

fully disrupted if the

technology were ready.

GM EV1 (1996)

Everyone knew

that electric cars

would never work—

until they did.