Good Question: Who Really Gets A Car For Christmas?
By Jason DeRusha, WCCO-TV
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- We've all seen the commercials: a family opens the garage on Christmas morning and there's a beautiful new car with a giant red bow. Come on, right? Does anyone really get a new car for Christmas?
"Absolutely. And quite frequently as a matter of fact," said Robert Katz, Executive General Manager of Lexus of Wayzata and Lexus of Maplewood.
Lexus created the ad campaign in 1998.
"I thought they were crazy," said Katz, noting that virtually no one at the time shopped for cars in Minnesota in December.
December used to be the worst month of the year for Lexus. Not after 12 years of this campaign.
"It's now become our best month of the year," he said.
The Lexus success with its "December to Remember" has inspired almost every other carmaker to start a similar campaign.
It's the "Season of Audi" also, don't you know?
People "buy them for a girlfriend, buy for kids, combine with graduation gift, use as a bribe for good grades," said Bruce Bonine, General Manager of Carousel Audi in Golden Valley.
Bonine said that over the past several years, there's only been about a total of a dozen Audis sold specifically as Christmas gifts at his dealership. He's never received a car as a gift, either.
"Never. And if my kids are watching, they'll wonder why I didn't give them one either," he laughed.
At Lexus, though, Katz said he's had years where's his team has delivered between six and a dozen cars on Christmas Eve.
However, to go from the worst annual month to the best takes a lot more than just people buying cars for Christmas day. The warm fuzzy ads do more than that.
"It does seem to carry over for the folks not buying it as a holiday gift, they realize it's a great opportunity," said Katz.
At Audi, Bonine joked that he'll throw in the big bow for just $29.99.
At Lexus, the bows cost $250, but no one buys them, instead, the dealership loans them out for the big reveal, and then gets them back after the holiday.
WCCO-TV's Jason DeRusha Reports
