Why won't ford offer its customers rebates many people waited for this truck to come out some extended their lease contracts. Millions show their support just look at the sales No. 1 almost every year, and don't tell me it's because of the new model fact go to Nissan web site.

1500 REBATE ON THE TITTAN.
2500 OR 0% ON ALL 04 GMC TRUCKS
2500 ON ALL 04 DODGE RAMS.

And for says its truck season rebates only on 03's shame on ford or us. Something to think about.

 

This truck is selling EXTREMELY well right now. Ford is not going to offer a rebate as long as they're flying off the lots. They'd be foolish to do otherwise. Nissan is offering rebates because: their truck is over-priced, it's not selling, and it's an unproven quantity. Truck owners are a loyal group, and they're not just going to run out and buy something new for the heck of it, ESPECIALLY a truck with an Asian name on it. Thems are the facts: we may not always like them, but they ARE the facts.

 

Mark II,

I couldn't have said it better myself. Market forces are market forces. Those of us that will have to turn over our F-150's to buy the new ones will take a beating on resale because of the discounts for the new 03's (and to some degree the 04's).

I am always more concerned what it cost me to own something over the time I have it rather than (ONLY) the purchase price.

I am glad to see the 04's holding a little closer to retail than the other brand that I WON'T have to resell some day.

 

TeeRTurner, i believe ford is offering a $1,000 rebate on 04's as a loyalty rebate-there may be other rebates. As for $2,500 on a dodge or chevy---What is Your Point? If you look closely or even supeficially, you will see the Ford is the better truck. So why go for a cosmetic "savings" of $1 or $2k when you could have the 04 ford. Altho the Nissan is unproved, it has some neat gadgets and a stout motor. I think it will do better in the marketplace than detroit appreciates (or publically admits). 56MarkII, i agree with most of what you are saying. Pls note the new nissan is not even due into the dealer lots until yearend. So if they arent hotsellers yet then no surprise. I make this distinction: Hard core truck buyers who either want or really need a stout truck wont think twice about an 04 nissan. Nissan doesnt give a hoot about that. They are going after the many thousand of urban folk who use their trucks for light duty purposes. Many of the those surburban folks have or have owned import cars and the Nissan will attrack them. Toyota could have had the inside lane for import truck sales but screwed up big time with #1--a severely wussy , totally crappy T10, and #2, toyota followed that up with still a wussy, 7/8th tundra. The japanese oriented toyota people must have thought the tundra was already huge, but the Nissan people either know the market better or have learned from toyota's large blunder. sorry for long post.

 

Exactly. No one expects the Titan to steal sales away from 3/4 and 1 ton diesel pickups. That is a whole 'nother market.

Nissan has said that it expects 30%-40% of Titan buyers to be loyal Nissan purchasers, and another 20% of sales will come from Toyota owners. That leaves roughly 40%-50% of buyers coming from the Big 3. Nissan only expects to sell 100,000 Titans in the 1st year, so that is 40,000-50,000 lost sales to the Big 3, a drop in the bucket.

Nissan will have to cut good deals on the Titan, but do not expect big rebates. Nissan is just not trying to move that many units.

Ford's problem is going to be GM's continued push of big rebates. GM has a huge cost advantage over Ford and the F-150 and can afford rebates that Ford cannot.

Remember, you can forget about Ford being #1 in trucks. Yes, the Ford nameplate is #1, but GM sells a lot more pickups than Ford if you combine GM and Chevy.

 

WILL BE FORTHCOMING ON THE NEW 04'. IT'S CALLED COMPETITION AND NO AUTO MAKER HAS IMMUNITY FROM IT. REMEMBER WHEN THE NEW SILVERADO LINE CAME OUT. GM SWORE THEY WOULD NOT HAVE TO OFFER INCENTIVES ON IT. LOOK HOW HIGH THESE CASH INCENTIVES WERE JUST RECENTLY TO RID THE LOTS OF THE 03'S. HISTORY ALWAYS REPEATS ITSELF. IT JUST TAKES TIME. WHEN THE "NEWNESS' WEARS OFF THE 04' F-150 LINE, INCENTIVES WILL APPEAR.

 

jschira, Correct, Nissan only want 100k unit sales in the early going but the low initial sales forcast is not a weakness. Nissan is purposely starting slow and every night before bed they are telling their children about the race between the tortoise and the hare. ( i saw my first toyota car in the late 60's. I thought "that car is such a totally worthless, tiny piece of flushable crapola"). I am not a doomsayer , but once nissan ramps up production and establishes their quality reputation, Nissan sales will increase and within 10 years when domestic truck market share has shrunk we can think back to 2003 when we first heard about the Titan. A minority view on this site, but where i live there are dozens and dozens of pristine heavy duty half tons and 3/4 ton screw cab 4x4 lariats (or other make equivalents) that tool around the neighborhood hauling nothing heavier than 3 sacks of groceries or the little league team to a pizza shop. many of these casual use owners have BMw's and the like, they are fashion conscious, and they have little to zero loyaty for a truck brand. I'd bet $$ Toyota is already working on a new replacement for the tundra i.e. a real toyota truck. If T can deliver that new truck, and if Nissan doesnt have major quality flub ups, Detroit will see a significantly changed light truck landscape in 10 years. Detroit's weakness is not necessarily Detroit's fault. It's just that as pickups have become increasingly fancy and extravagant, Detroit is changing the demographics of the most likely buyer for expensive trucks that are used for casual use purposes. Today's buyer of a luxury $45,000 truck may not care or even know the torque or incline crawl rating for their new Lariat 4x4. They just want something cool to park at the country club beside their neighbor's GM Hummer 2. That niche, high profit truck market is the soft underbelly of Detroit. IMO.

 

ArtsBest, you are correct. GM had to offer extremely high discounts in an attempt to get rid of the remaining 03 GM trucks. And i agree with your 2nd comment. History repeats itself; already there are huge discounts on the 04 GM products. Any bets on what rebates GM will offer on the 2005 models.

 

I don't have any idea what the GM incentives will be for 05'. However, unless the economy takes off, which I don't see happening, these high rebates will continue. Isn't it time though, that the Sierra and Silverado are "redone?" I mean these models have been around for a while now. And American's like changes in their vehicles.