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deals of the week

Oh, those millennials. Car company bosses and media types are obsessed with these children of baby boomers born between the early 1980s and 2000, or so. And with good reason.

A new Deloitte study found that the typical millennial car buyer cares three times more about the customer and buying experience than the actual design of the car. Old school boomers who grew up embracing a love affair with cars will collectively cringe at this.

Pat Ryan Jr. and Patrick McMullen of the retail consultancy MAX Digital write millennials "are a generation that is more into technology than cars – there just aren't a lot of 'car guys' and 'car gals' in this age group.

"Because millennials aren't that into cars and haven't necessarily been dreaming of buying that particular car anyway, their focus is instead on the buying process, which puts tremendous pressure on dealers to rebuild their process around this emerging majority of car buyers," they argue in a research note.

The consultants point to how the baby boom echo generation, or Generation Y, have been raised - "buying products on Amazon and music on iTunes" which has trained them to expect "a streamlined, fact-based, convenient (buying) process, and find the idea of the stereotypical car buying experience repelling."

Some – perhaps their Baby Boomer parents - might have the temerity to suggest millennials are petulant, impatient and spoiled. It's clear boomers, their parents and their Gen Y kids all want the same things when shopping for a new ride: a high quality, convenient experience.

Ryan and McMullen suggest dealers learn to speak the language of millennials, in the showroom, on the web and in advertising. Strip out all that "car guy talk" in ads, and replace it with objective "evidence" gathered from across the web "to build value in each car and trust in your dealership."

Match the focus on objective evidence with a sales staff who are product experts, "practiced and certified in the walk-around for each model." The "deal" should be easy to conclude with a minimum of negotiation, they add, noting 65 per cent of millennials don't want to dicker with a salesperson.

Finally, these young buyers embrace technology and so should every dealer and salesperson. Get over the fact that millennials are pulling out their mobile phones in the showroom.

"It is naïve to think that they won't use the computer in their pocket to help them level the playing the field when spending tens of thousands of dollars," they argue.

The obvious conclusion: if you are a millennial looking for a deal, you'll be happiest at a retailer staffed a well-informed professional sales staff who embrace technology, recognize that today's shopper has done plenty of pricing and product research, and who back up their recommendations with strong evidence.

Such research might well include more than $5,000 in combined dealer and factory discounts on the 2015 Infiniti Q50, and nearly $3,000 on the Volkswagen Tiguan – not to mention perhaps $3,500 in combined discounts on the Ford Explorer and perhaps $5,000 or more in combined offers on the Lexus GS 350 with all-wheel drive.

Deals of the Week consulted with www.unhaggle.com, Car Help Canada, www.carcostcanada.com, and other sources on these offers. As usual, pricing information here is subject to change and dealer discounts vary, so consult your dealer for all the final details, including expiry dates for all offers.

Infiniti

2015 Infiniti Q50 Sedan Sport 4WD

  • MSRP: $47,450
  • Freight, dealer prep, air conditioning tax: $2,130
  • Dealer discount (estimated): $2,700
  • Factory discount: $2,500 (manufacturer incentive includes a $1,500 auto show offer)
  • Taxable subtotal: $44,380
  • Total price with 13 per cent HST: $50,149.40
  • A $1,500 factory incentive is available with 2.9 per cent financing for 48 or 60 months, or a $2,250 factory incentive is available with a 2.9 per cent lease rate for 48 months. A one per cent loyalty rate reduction is available for lease and finance rates.
Volkswagen

2015 Volkswagen Tiguan 4MOTION Automatic Highline

  • MSRP: $38,490
  • Freight, dealer prep, fees and air conditioning tax: $1,745
  • Dealer discount (estimated): $2,400
  • Factory discount: $500 (manufacturer incentive)
  • Taxable subtotal: $37,335
  • Total price with 13 per cent HST: $42,188.55
  • All incentives are available with a 0.9 per cent finance rate for 48 months, 1.9 per cent for 60 months or 2.9 per cent for 84 months. Or a 1.9 per cent lease rate for 48 months. A 0.5 per cent loyalty rate reduction is available with all lease and finance deals.

Ford

2015 Ford Explorer 4WD Ltd

  • MSRP: $44,399
  • Freight, dealer prep, AC tax: $1,785
  • Dealer discount (estimated): $2,800
  • Factory discount: $750 (manufacturer incentive.)
  • Taxable subtotal: $42,634
  • Total price with 13 per cent HST: $48,176.42
  • All incentives are available with a 2.99 per cent finance rate for 48 months or 60 months, or a 2.99 per cent lease rate for 48 months.

Lexus

2015 Lexus GS 350 Sedan 4WD

  • MSRP: $57,250
  • Freight, PDI, AC tax: $2,130
  • Dealer discount (estimated): $3,800
  • Factory discount: $1,327 (adjusted for manufacturer after-tax incentive)
  • Taxable subtotal: $54,253
  • Total price with 13 per cent HST: $61,305.89
  • All incentives are available with a 3.9 per cent finance rate for 48 months, 4.9 per cent for 60 months or a 2.9 per cent lease rate for 39 months.

Pricing information source:

and

. Calculations based on Ontario customers. Please note that while the information above is accurate at the time of publication, incentives are given at the discretion of individual dealers, and may be changed or discontinued at any time. Where noted, "dealer discounts" are negotiated with the customer on a case-by-case basis. Unhaggle Savings are actual discounts received by Unhaggle customers.

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