We know. The gag-inducing holiday ad blitz from luxury automakers makes you want to actively avoid going anywhere near a car with a Lexus, Infiniti, Mercedes or Acura logo on it this time of year.
Who could blame you? The Lexus "December to Remember" spots are so far beyond the conventional meaning of corny and sappy that they require feigned physical illness, not mere words, to describe. Mercedes suggests that Santa himself drives an SLS, yet apparently needs to work as a salesman at a a Chevrolet dealership to afford the payments, maintenance and insurance. Infiniti tries way too hard to paint BMW drivers as insufferable jerks, while suggesting that instead of talking out problems like an adult, Infiniti drivers resort to violence and high speed, mountainside car chases.
Giving luxury cars away as holiday gifts with giant red bows is definitely a 1% kind of thing. TV news personality Katie Couric recently told Jay Leno that Audi's "Season of Audi" commercials inpsired her to buy her Mom an Audi A4 for Christmas.
But, while the ads may be horrible to most of us, taking a look beyond them to the actual incentives being advertised, one finds that these brands are actually offering up some really solid new car deals.
Here are a few examples of luxury cars that are selling well below MSRP, due to a combination of automaker incentives, demand and a desire from dealers to move cars off of their lots to hit yearly sales goals.
BMW, Mercedes, Lexus and several other brands want you in their cars. If you're in the market, forgive them for making you suffer during TV timeouts and give these cars a good look.
But don't wait too long, many of these deals will be up at the end of the year.