Chrysler Sees Boom in Last-Second Leasing

The other day, we wrote about the ways the economy was making leases difficult on manufacturers. In short, because interest in SUVs and trucks has plummeted, manufacturer leasing agencies are losing money on old SUV returns. The credit crunch isn’t helping things, either, making it more difficult for dealers to justify certain lessees and harder for manufacturers to make money on certain cars. It’s a rough patch.

Among the manufacturers discussed was Chrysler, which is doing more to combat the problem than any other OEM: It’s stopping all leases effective this month. There is a bright side, though. Thanks to the shutdown, Chrysler experienced a quick uptick in lease sales, according to the Wall Street Journal, before the Aug. 1 deadline. Some customers chose three-year leases, hoping Chrysler would get back into the leasing game by the time they finish up, and dealers experienced double and triple their usual number of lease sales.

This illustrates that there are clearly lease customers out there, but because of the economy, Chrysler simply can’t afford to serve this group.

Chrysler Gets a Jolt  Lease Traffic (Wall Street Journal)