I remember when my sister leased her S40 with a money factor of .00001Thank you for that info. It seems there is still a lot of confusion about this "loophole" but so far MB and Audi have been open about passing that money on as a lease incentive. I just posted this above as well, but I'm also now hearing that Volvo is doing the same (at least for the V60), but charging dearly for the service with a lease money factor up up north of 9% APR.
Audi was almost the first to increase leases that were laughable. I special ordered my S60, and my lease was price protected. I have had a 2016 Audi TT and a 2018 R8 V10 lease, so I was considering an TTS or S4 before I ordered the Volvo. Since I'm good friends with the Audi salesmen I had them check on some leases. A BASE A4 on a 3 year lease was $990/month, and the TTS was $1,300/month. It was just insane. My TT lease had been $650/month and my R8 V10 had been $1,800/month. The comparisons between what changed in a matter of months was just insane. I'm afraid the days of leasing are over, or at least for a while. I'm like you...I have less than 1 year on my lease, and right now you are looking at 30-40% payment increase. It's financial suicide at these rates.I leased a V60 Inscription in May 2021 and the MF is something like .00028.
that’s insane how Crazy it is now. I’m looking to get a V60PE at year end/early next year with my leasing coming up, but we will see. Curious what powertrain options Americans are getting with the new A4 Avant which might sway me to Audi.
You have a much more optimistic outlook that I do (or my Volvo store's GM, a good friend). New car sales have suffered immensely, and I doubt we ever go back to "how it was". Supply chain issues will likely loom for 2 more years, severely hurting availability. Just look at how Volvo basically stopped S60 production for a year, and Audi basically is not building an S or RS cars for at least a year. Many brands don't want to lease cars because they don't want to guess what the future will be like. Certain models have availability, but limited supply of most means no discounts and no incentives to really move them. Production is so scaled down even week demand is going to sell every car they can make without much issue. Just look at the enormous inflation on the cost of a new car in just 2 years. I think we will soon look at a $10,000 price increase on a car compared to just a few years ago. My John Deere equipment has taken a 40% price increase in just 2 years alone! Cheap lease payments are likely gone forever, especially with the EV push. No one is ever going to lower prices back down after they have already established they can sell every car at an elevated price with little discounts or incentives. I worked in the auto industry for a number of years ( with Lexus and Volvo primarily), and I'm afraid the fun days of car ownership are over. Welcome to 5 paint colors, 2 interior colors, 1 powertrain pre-configured trims and nothing built for enthusiast. Just look at a Corvette or Audi RS3....enthusiast cars that are bascially only available in theory due to minuscule production numbers. My local Audi dealership is filled with volume selling models, all built identically and people with special ordered cars still waiting going on two years (or canceled all together after waiting nearly two years.) It's depressing. I got the last S60 T6 from my dealer, and even that had to be forced through by calling in a favor at Volvo corporate. I guess I'll have to buy out my lease, it's one of the last few fun Volvo cars..Yes I leased a very well equipped A4 in 2018 for $0 down and $404/month. Sticker was just over $44k. It was FWD but had plenty of options.
Leases got very bad in the last 18 months but are now slowly getting better. Definitely not over at all. The average car is now sold under MSRP again as of last month and things will return to normal. Cost of borrowing will remain an issue but manufacturers have the ability to heavily subsidize money factors (and APR on in-house due dung) which they are going to be forced to as demand weakens.
My friend that operates a very large Volvo dealer had…..5 new S60s for the 2022 model year allocated to his store. Five. And you wonder why you can buy or order an S60? Literally, they built almost none as they diverted those parts to SUVs.Interesting extrapolation from figures in carsalesbase.com. They break down the 60 series data into XC60, V60CC and V60. For 2022, since the only V60 imported to the US was the PE, one can assume that the V60 numbers are all V60PE. The numbers, currently only available through November, speak volumes about Volvo’s strategy, Total 60 series sales for 11 months, 33,896. XC60-32,659. V60CC-1,147, V60(PE)-90. This also helps explain the problems and long wait for the V60PE. Even the V60CC is quite rare.
