Back in October, Sirius XM made the announcement that they will begin offering a free Sirius trial with Chrysler Pre-Owned vehicles. And we asked... where's Ford?
Well, now we have our answer.
Well, now we have our answer.
Similar to previous CPO deals (including Acura, GM, Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Volvo), Ford and Lincoln Mercury customers will receive a three-month trial subscription of the "Sirius Everything" package upon the purchase of all Sirius-equipped Certified Pre-owned vehicles.
Ford will still offer Sirius as a factory-installed feature with a 6-month subscription included on most new Ford and Lincoln Mercury vehicles sold in the U.S.
This is definitely great news, but it should be noted that recent shopping trends have shown a shift from CPO to New vehicles.
According to data from AutoTrader, CPO sales took a dive in the end of 2009 and consumers look to be returning to shopping for New vehicles.
CPO inventories took a double hit as the credit crisis caused many manufacturers to pull back or eliminate leasing programs, and now the average asking prices for remaining CPO vehicles is trending significantly upwards - causing the shift to new vehicles.
Either way, with CPO deals in place with most major automakers, Sirius XM Radio Inc. look to be the winners regardless of where the market shifts. Having both Used and New vehicle free trial offerings covers all bases and increases overall penetration, and that's good news all around.
Ford will still offer Sirius as a factory-installed feature with a 6-month subscription included on most new Ford and Lincoln Mercury vehicles sold in the U.S.
This is definitely great news, but it should be noted that recent shopping trends have shown a shift from CPO to New vehicles.
According to data from AutoTrader, CPO sales took a dive in the end of 2009 and consumers look to be returning to shopping for New vehicles.
CPO inventories took a double hit as the credit crisis caused many manufacturers to pull back or eliminate leasing programs, and now the average asking prices for remaining CPO vehicles is trending significantly upwards - causing the shift to new vehicles.
Either way, with CPO deals in place with most major automakers, Sirius XM Radio Inc. look to be the winners regardless of where the market shifts. Having both Used and New vehicle free trial offerings covers all bases and increases overall penetration, and that's good news all around.
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This is good, but Sirius XM should look at a method of ensuring that whenever a vehicle with OEM satellite radio changes hands, whether certified pre-owned or otherwise, the new owner has access to a three-month free trial period. As the company has narrowed its focus primarily to the OEM market, a major concern is the number of vehicles on the road that have satellite radio installed but not activated.
A good way to get this started would be a direct-to-public ad campaign offering three free months of service to anyone with a vehicle that has an OEM satellite radio that has never been activated with a free trial or paid subscription under that owner's name or address. Another avenue of promotion could be via new- and used-car dealerships, who could be sent a mailing piece with instructions on how to activate a satellite radio so the used vehicle purchaser would get three free months.
Three months of service is not that much to give away, and when the free trial was activated, Sirius XM would collect billing info so the service would roll over to a paid plan if not canceled by the end of the trial.
Good idea xcountry.
This should be easy to do as many/most used cars with satellite radios will pass through the dealerships anyway. Hand the new owner a pamphlet with all the info and tell them to give it a try.
As a goodwill gesture, at the same time each year, Sirius should just turn all the radios on for a few weeks. Who knows how many subs they could snag.