For Immediate Release

Employee Pricing Helps Big 3 Dominate Vincentric’s Lowest Total Ownership Cost Rankings

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Michigan – July 11, 2005 – Vincentric, a leading automotive data compilation and analysis firm, released findings today showing that the employee discount programs currently offered by GM, Chrysler, and Ford have helped the Big 3 manufacturers claim the lowest Total Cost of Ownership in 53% of the 34 vehicle segments measured by Vincentric. Asian nameplates were 18 percentage points behind, with the lowest ownership costs in 35% of the segments, with European brands leading 12% of the categories.

Vincentric compiles the cost to own and operate over 1,900 vehicle configurations for the 2005 model year, and updates this information each month to analyze the impact of current market conditions. “The employee pricing programs offered by the Big 3 have resulted in cost reductions in depreciation, interest, taxes, and opportunity cost”,” stated David Wurster, Co-founder and President of Vincentric. “This helps reduce overall ownership costs and results in both reductions in short-term price and long-term ownership costs,” he added.

Vincentric calculates the total cost of ownership by measuring and the cumulative costs in eight categories: Depreciation, Fuel, Insurance, Financing, State Fees & Taxes, Opportunity Cost, Maintenance, and Repairs.

Because of the recently available employee pricing programs offered by GM, Chrysler, and Ford, Vincentric re-calculated its July measurements to help clients understand the impact of these programs. Based on current market prices, Chevrolet and Ford both had six vehicles with the lowest Total Cost of Ownership, with GMC also doing well with three winners. Nissan was the leading Asian nameplate, matching GMC with 3 vehicles having the lowest ownership costs.

Of all 2005 model year vehicles, the Nissan Sentra Base 4-door sedan had the lowest ownership cost of any vehicle, costing consumers $22,926 over five years. 

The highest ownership cost? The Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG which will set back its owner $195,887 over a five-year timeframe.

Clients and media are able to have immediate access to the results of current cost of ownership information on all 2005 vehicles through Vinbase Online™, a web access tool provided by Vincentric.

To obtain a complete listing of vehicles having the lowest Total Cost of Ownership in each segment, or to learn more about Vincentric, visit www.vincentric.com

About Vincentric
Vincentric provides data, knowledge, and insight to the automotive industry by identifying and applying the many aspects of automotive value. Using Vinbase™, its comprehensive, proprietary cost-of-ownership database, the company measures and analyzes the overall cost of owning and operating vehicles and its effect on the value provided to consumers. Vincentric, LLC, is a privately held automotive data compilation and analysis firm headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

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Contact:

Dave Freed
Vincentric, LLC
952-891-1054

dave.freed@vincentric.com
www.vincentric.com