Buy one, get one free' offer adds fuel to car wars

"Buy one, get one free" - it sounds like a service station snack deal.

But this deal doesn't refer to chips, fizzy drinks or chocolate bars. It's for expensive European cars.

The stakes were raised in car-dealer competition this week when Newmarket dealer Andrew Simms offered anyone who bought a $115,000 Citroen C6 or a $90,000 Alfa Romeo Brera a smaller car worth $30,000 to $35,000 as part of the deal.

Industry commentators described the offer as extreme and unusual.

But although Motor Industry Association figures show car sales, particularly of larger and more expensive cars, slumped in the year to February, the dealer said the offer was "not a reflection of the market".

Independent Motor Vehicle Dealers Association chief executive David Vinsen said the deal was an "innovative and extreme" way to market cars, and an example of the competitiveness between car dealers.

He had heard of such deals in Britain, but not in New Zealand.

Mr Vinsen said Citroen and Alfa Romeo were trying to increase their share of the New Zealand market, and giving away the smaller cars might be a way to get drivers using the brands.

Industry figures for new car sales show no Citroen C6s were sold in New Zealand in the year to February, compared with two the previous year.

Two Alfa Romeo Breras sold, compared with one the previous year.

John Statham, the Alfa Romeo brand manager at Andrew Simms, said the offer was unusual, but was not a reflection of the market.

It had been arranged to mark the business's first week as the sole dealer of the Citroen and Alfa Romeo brands in New Zealand.

Freddy Foote, editor of the car traders' publication Auto File, said the offer was "very extraordinary".

He asked whether the advertisement had been in the Herald on April Fool's Day. It appeared on April 2.

"I have heard of this in the States, where car dealers are really struggling. "They've been offering two Dodge Rams [large pickup trucks] for the price of one."

Sales of all Alfa Romeos fell from 54 in January and February last year to 15 in the first two months of this year.

Citroen sales fell from 33 in the first two months of last year to 10 this year.