I’ll say it again: the upshot to the “in the toilet” economy is …

Cheap, cheap cars. Really cheap. If you want to buy a Saab 9-7X, you can get $8500 cash back. But let’s be honest, the majority of these incentives are found on American vehicles, specifically larger cars and SUVs. The Saab I mentioned is a barely-disguised Chevy Trailblazer, so that (along with the fact that Saab is owned by GM and barely sells any cars at all) might explain the discount.

However, some small, fuel-efficient cars that are in high demand are even getting discounts. The Toyota Yaris and the Honda Civic are both having incentive programs in some areas. That just goes to show just how much the sales turndown is affecting even large, healthy companies like Honda and Toyota.

Places like Edmunds.com or manufacturer websites are good places to explore the discounts, but use common sense. Even though $8500 cash back makes a 9-7X a good buy, the insane depreciation and very small number of people interested in a Saab SUV might mean that you’ll end up with less equity in the car than you thought.

Of course, navigating these intricacies are what I do for a living, so you can click through to Spark Auto Consulting if you want more info about tapping into incentives.

[source: Edmunds.com]