In the automobile, the psychological base price is no longer popular
Manufacturers are moving away from high base prices. Do you know what a low price is? Behind this little-known name hides a very widespread commercial trick! It denotes a...
16/11/2021
Manufacturers are moving away from eye-catching base prices.
Do you know what a broken price is? Behind this little-known name hides a very widespread commercial trick! This means a price artificially lowered below a threshold considered psychological. Example: €99.90 instead of €100.
You therefore come across knock-off prices almost daily, whether in the fruit and vegetable section, in clothing or on the side of household appliances. If the technique is more effective when the sum remains reasonable, up to 999 €, it is still appropriate for more expensive purchases, in particular the automobile. Hyundai thus offers the new Tucson from €29,900, which therefore makes it possible to remain below the symbolic bar of €30,000. Similarly, the facelifted Skoda Kodiaq starts at €29,980.
However, examples are increasingly rare. The psychological base price is therefore no longer really popular. It must be said that the technique is not really useful in the automobile. As much as the customer knows that he will pay for his pack of 6 yoghurts at €1.99, he knows that the urban SUV he is targeting will not cost precisely €19,990!
This is all the less useful since this psychological base price never lasts long! No model escapes regular price increases, with a few hundred euros. The broken price is therefore quickly forgotten. In two years, the Clio Life Sce 65 hp has gone from 14,100 to 15,900 €, thus crossing a symbolic threshold, that of 15,000 €, without changing the endowment! The next increase will take it past the €16,000 mark.
The entrance ticket to the Duster flies away!There is also the fact that the basic versions are increasingly abandoned by manufacturers. Renault has practically erased the Life model from its ranges. A Captur now starts in the Zen variant at €21,950, whereas it started at €18,600 in Life in 2019! These stripped finishes are sold very little. At a time when manufacturers love simplification, we might as well ignore it. The restyled Polo thus starts at €18,015 (VW didn't even dare €17,990), a record for a city car. But it has air conditioning, digital instrumentation, cruise control, lane keeping assistance as standard!
Even Dacia is beginning to no longer bet on an ultra low-cost price. For the restyled Duster, presented yesterday, the Romanian stopped the Access model. As a result, the entry ticket goes from 12,490 to 14,490 €! But the Access accounted for 1% of sales, and the highest Prestige finish 81%!
There is, however, a new aspect of the psychological price. If builders no longer really seek to have a catchy total starting price, they now do so with rental offers. And there, they do not hesitate to dare the lowest possible rent amounts, at the cost of a significant contribution. As we saw in our last survey on LOA and LLD, tempting offers are sometimes misleading! The Citroën Ami is advertised at the price of a telephone package of €19.99 per month, but you have to pay €3,009 in first rent (bonus deducted), ie half the total price of the vehicle!