Due to the economic impact of coronavirus many areas are under stay at home orders, which means car sales have dropped. In most cases, this can mean an opportunity to score some serious deals on cars with heavy discounts and cheap financing. However, that doesn’t apply to all models, especially with the Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride.
Both the Telluride and its twin, the Palisade, are very competitive cars and really nice to drive. According to the reviews, both cars feel a bit more premium compared to similar vehicles in their class. This is good news for Hyundai and Kia and sales have been fairly solid for these new SUVs, there are even some people paying over sticker price which seems a bit odd for a family car.
I predicted back in January that in a few months prices would come down, and I also assumed a global pandemic wreaking havoc on the auto market would generate at least some deals. I was wrong.
I was helping a client in North Carolina who was really interested in leasing either the Telluride or Palisade. I informed him that based on previous deals, due to minimal discounts the leases would not likely be competitive. We added the Subaru Ascent into the mix as an alternative, since Subaru’s historically good resale value along with decent discounts would likely make for a better lease.
Here is a table of the results -
A few things to keep in mind with this data. First, there were a number of Kia and Hyundai dealers that just absolutely refused to provide written lease quotes. At a time when it is almost critical to conduct business online to make a sale, some dealers, it seems, aren’t quite that desperate.
Second, as you can see the quotes that we received on the Telluride/Palisade were offered minimal to no discount, with the exception of one dealer in PA that offered $2,200 off. That isn’t bad, but still not on the same level as the Subaru with over $5,000 in discounts. Furthermore, when it comes to leasing, the sale price only tells part of the story. The Subaru works out to be $6,768 cheaper over the course of the lease compared to the Kia with the lowest payment.
The lack of deals was not unique to this region of the country either. I spoke with a few buyers in the NYC region who were quoted in the $800-$900 for lease payments for Tellurides. The only way payments would be that high on a car that retails in the mid-to-upper $40,000 range is if a dealer is putting thousands of dollars of markup on top of the MSRP.
One possible explanation for the lack of discounts is that automakers don’t have an unlimited well of rebates to apply to every car, so they are going to be strategic as to how those discounts are utilized. If a vehicle like the Palisade or Telluride is still somewhat in-demand, the rebate programs are going to be focused on less popular cars like the Sonata, Tuscon, Optima, and Sorento.
Coronavirus isn’t some magic wand to make prices come down, and if you can’t find a satisfactory deal on the car of your choice now, chances are discounts should get better in the coming months.