Dodge is not over priced and neither is the Chevy TrailBlazer. Most people don't pay full sticker price - look in the Sunday paper for a deal on a new truck. I alsothink the above link at the top is trying toselling Toyota's. I would rather have a HEMI and a full size truck then a Toyota.

 

In my opinion, this article is just another example of the media sensationalizing something that's not newsworthy. Overpriced? Perhaps, to folks that pay attention to MSRP only. But as we all know, the MSRP never tells the whole story on the true "price" of a vehicle. At a maximum, the "price" of a vehicle is MSRP minus any incentives, whether the $$$ goes to the consumer or the dealer. In my mind, calling the MSRP ofa vehicle "overpriced" is like calling a new K&N CAI going on eBay for $0.99 with $899 shipping "underpriced". My guess is that declaring a high MSRP and offering huge incentives is merely a marketing ploy that Chrysler seems to enjoy using pretty much across their product line to make consumers feel like they're getting a good deal.

Varying the incentives seems to be how the auto industry likes to adjust the price of their vehicles inattempts to achieve supply and demand equilibrium, maybe because it's easier to deceive the ignorant consumerand perhapsbecausethere is some value to the manufacturer for a higher price to go on record for each sale. More than likely, it's easier for them to "raise" the price back up when demand increases (i.e. perhaps seasonally,say for a new model year) by just letting the incentive expire or by lowering the incentive (case in point: last October the '07 Ram was at like a $6K rebate, while the '08 rebate was around $3.5K-$4K,maybe less, now I think the '08 is up to about $6K - I'm too lazy to check right now).

So why are these 15 vehicles on this list anyway? Well, the way I look at it, for the most part they're "old" designs thatprobably don't cost as much to build now as they did when they were first introduced, yet their MSRP was probably not reduced accordinglyin the later years(not sure if the F150 is old - I don't pay attention to Ford trucks). I'd imagine the manufacturers should have already recovered the design, engineering, and tooling costs for the current models in the first three years or so of sales. So after a few years, the only cost the manufacturer sinks into each vehicle is the material and labor to put it together and get it to the dealer. Oh yeah, and also perhaps the cost of minor tweaks,like headlights, taillights, dash, rims, and (maybe not so minor) MDS.My bet is when the redesigned '09 Ram is out at the end of the year, there will be no incentives and will probably have the about the same MSRP as the current Ram, so effectively it will have a "price" that's about $6K higher than an '08 Ram at this very moment. That seems to be what happened with the recent Sierra/Silverado redesign, though the "price" difference between the old and new was closer to $5K from what I recall. It wil be interesting to see how quickly the redesigned Ram will be offered with incentives.

I'm no expert at this - not an economist, market analyst, or anything like that, so take this for what it's worth (about $0.02).

 

Am I missing something here?

I just picked up a 2007 2500 QC 4x4 5.7 Laramie-J w/8ft bed tonight for $28.5 and a 1K discount on an extended warrenty and a better interest rate than I could find on my own. Thats a $10,655 discount off the sticker, a half price warrenty and 0.65% better rate over the life of my loan totaling $424. Total discount $12,079. Im happy REALLY HAPPY.Maybe others got a better Dodge deal here but I couldnt get one from Ford or Toyota (Chevy burned me on my last purchase so they can Kiss myRam-tailgate) so Ibought aDodge (my first one)and I am happy.

Heres a perspective.
No one here said anything about getting a crappy deal at the Dealer, Right? We did our homework and know whats going on at 'Deal time'. Dodge is discounting their trucks to their customers to make them feel 'good' which is what the buying experience is all about for the buyer no matter what you are buying; Trucks, puppies, butter... whatever. On the receiving end, Dodge is making a profit which is how alot of familiesget to go home to a warm bed atable full of chow(granted some better than others...).
How is it Dodge's costs are so much less than everyone elses? Why cant Chevy make a truck as inexpensive as Dodge? Or are they and just pocketing the $$. Maybe we should be questioning their accounting practices... Or is their company so poorly run that the operations run fat and eat up the profit? Remember the 70s when Dodge almost went out of Business? Poorly run corporations go out of business every day.
In my Opinion this is the way Dodge goes to market and they are profitable AND they have happy customers. In business thats all you need to do to be successful.

Then again Im a Newbie... what the heck do I know.

Frank T