Residual Value Report: Ford cars make big jump

Zach Bowman — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 09:40:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Earnings/Financials

The Automotive Lease Guide has just released its annual report of residual values. Thanks to slimmed production and lower incentives, both Ford and Chevrolet saw jumps of 11 and 7.5 percentage points, respectively, compared to five years ago, and a number of other manufacturers saw the worth of their products climb as well. Ford's passenger cars managed to rank second in the highest improvement since 2005 with a residual value of 48.8 percent. Both Ford and Chevrolet trucks are counted separately in the survey because of their disproportionately high residual value.

Both Suzuki and Hyundai found themselves on the top five list of improved residual value with 12.6 and 9.1 respective percentage point jumps over 2005 - healthy numbers. But for as much as those brands have improved over the last half decade, others, like Porsche, Volvo and BMW have seen their numbers fall.

Porsche has taken the biggest hit, with the company's residual value falling to 44.4 percent - an 8.2 percentage point drop since 2005.

[Source: Automotive News]

Residual Value Report: Ford cars make big jump originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Jun 2010 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Remember that whole 'bankruptcy will kill GM and Chrysler residuals?' Not so much.

Chris Shunk — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Chrysler, GM, Earnings/Financials

Back in late 2008, auto executives from General Motors and Chrysler warned of dire consequences in the event that one of their companies was forced into bankruptcy proceedings. With the help of the federal government, little of that doom and gloom materialized, at least when it comes to used car residuals.

Back in May, Automotive Lease Guide used impending bankruptcy as reason to slash the 36 month residuals of all Chrysler-branded products by a substantial 6% off the original retail price. That dropped the residual value of a Chrysler vehicle to an average of 28.8%, while Dodge and Jeep were at 31.3% and 32.5%, respectively.

Just one month later, with Chrysler's bankruptcy in the rearview mirror, and residuals are nearly back at April levels. Chrysler has climbed nearly four points to 32.5%, Dodge is at 34.8%, and Jeep is now at 37.4%. ALM admits that bankruptcy didn't effect residual values like the company thought it would, and as a result, resale values for GM-branded vehicles won't be downwardly adjusted.

Kelly Blue Book reportedly told Automotive News that some of the bounce-back in residuals is due to the fact that relatively low gas prices are making used trucks and SUVs a bit more appealing to customers. With new car sales in the tank, we suspect used vehicles have been in higher demand as well, helping to boost up residuals.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]

Remember that whole 'bankruptcy will kill GM and Chrysler residuals?' Not so much. originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments