SANTA MONICA, Calif. -
With consumers paying more at the pump coupled with an uptick in incentive spending, there was an unusual — albeit slight — decline in transaction prices during December, according to TrueCar.com.
Specifically, December’s average new-vehicle transaction price reached $29,358, according to the company’s estimate. This marks a 0.9-percent year-over-year decline and a 0.3-percent sequential drop.
However, the estimated full-year average transaction price for 2010 was up 4.7 percent on a year-over-year basis at $29,070.
“Typically, because of seasonality, trucks and SUVs sell better in December increasing transaction prices,” explained Jesse Toprak, the company’s vice president of industry trends and insights.
“Yet due to higher gas prices and increased incentives, transaction prices dropped slightly this month,” he added.
Breaking it down by the eight automakers TrueCar included in its data (Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan and Toyota), the average transaction price for each of these was down from respective month-ago levels.
GM (up 1.6 percent), Kia (up 1.3 percent), Chrysler (up 1.2 percent) and Hyundai (1.2 percent) posted year-over-year gains.
Conversely, Toyota showed the heaviest drop from a year ago (down 2.1 percent), and was followed by Honda (down 1.7 percent), Ford (down 0.8 percent) and Nissan (down 0.5 percent).
Moving on to discuss estimates for incentive spending in December, TrueCar projects that the average incentive climbed 0.8 percent on a year-over-year basis to $2,721. This marked a 6.7-percent month-over-month hike.
The full-year 2010 estimated average incentive ($2,718) is 2.5 percent softer than the full-year 2009 level.
“Incentives spending is flat compared to last year as automakers have made a concerted effort to only put money on the hood of vehicles that need it,” Toprak shared.
“With the rise in leasing, estimated incentive spending could decrease with improved residual values,” he added.
Breaking down the incentive forecast for December by automaker, Honda, showed the heaviest hike from December 2009 with a 66.1-percent gain. Its average incentive spending for December was estimated at $2,519.
Toyota (up 36.5 percent) also had a strong lift, with incentive spending estimated at $2,253.
GM had the biggest decline (down 17.4 percent), followed by Hyundai/Kia (down 12.4 percent).
Comparing December’s estimates to November levels, incentive spending increased for all OEMs listed, with Nissan leading the way (up 10.7 percent).

Finally, TrueCar provided the following charts regarding transaction prices and incentives in December:

Transaction Pricing Forecast
Manufacturer
Dec. 2010 Transaction Price
Nov. 2010 Transaction Price
Dec. 2009 Transaction Price
Change Dec. 2010 from Dec. 2009
Change Dec. 2010 from Nov. 2010
Chrysler
$28,773
$29,010
$ 28,438
1.2%
-0.8%
Ford
$31,690
$31,804
$31,931
-0.8%
-0.4%
GM
$34,783
$34,801
$34,248
1.6%
-0.1%
Honda
$24,948
$25,177
$25,383
-1.7%
-0.9%
Hyundai
$20,448
$20,489
$20,204
1.2%
-0.2%
Kia
$18,467
$18,568
$18,236
1.3%
-0.5%
Nissan
$27,152
$27,090
$27,280
-0.5%
-0.2%
Toyota
$25,099
$25,206
$25,626
-2.1%
-0.4%
Industry
$29,358
$29,453
$29,634
-0.9%
-0.3%

 

Incentive Spending Forecast
Manufacturer
Dec. 2010 Incentives
Nov. 2010 Incentives
Dec. 2009 Incentives
Change Dec. 2010 from Dec. 2009
Change Dec. 2010 from Nov. 2010
Chrysler
$3,488
$3,300
$3,550
-1.7%
5.7%
Ford
$2,945
$2,750
$2,650
11.1%
7.1%
GM
$3,347
$3,100
$4,050
-17.4%
8.0%
Honda
$2,159
$2,050
$1,300
66.1%
5.3%
Hyundai/Kia
$1,795
$1,650
$2,050
-12.4%
8.8%
Nissan
$2,823
$2,550
$2,800
0.8%
10.7%
Toyota
$2,253
$2,100
$1,650
36.5%
7.3%
Industry
$2,721
$2,550
$2,700
0.8%
6.7%