Though car shows have largely faced declining attendance – and participation from automakers – over the past several years, most big ones are still around and doing just fine. However, it’s been a few years since Ford last offered an Auto Show Private Offer, which provides customers who attend car shows and express interest in test driving one of that automaker’s vehicles with some sort of financial incentive to do so. Now, it seems as if that particular incentive is finally making a comeback, giving shoppers a pretty good reason to attend any number of upcoming car shows.
According to a dealer bulletin recently seen by CarsDirect, Ford has launched a new Test Drive Incentive Program that seems designed to entice people to attend upcoming car shows, as they’ll receive a $50 MasterCard gift card for those that do precisely that and then proceed test drive a Blue Oval vehicle at a dealer afterward. It does take a rather long eight weeks to receive this gift card, but for folks that planned on attending a car show and perhaps test driving a vehicle anyway, it’s also a pretty easy way to score an extra $50.
“Consumers attending select Ford Auto Shows will have the opportunity to sign up for a $50 test drive incentive,” the bulletin reads. The new program is designed to increase foot traffic at both car shows and Ford dealer showrooms, and also, as a way for the automaker to link up with shoppers in the market for a new vehicle, “since consumers are becoming increasingly reluctant to provide their personal information and email address,” the bulletin notes, which is why the program’s goal “is to generate thousands of visits to our dealer’s showrooms.”
To be eligible for this incentive, shoppers must first sign up for the Test Drive Incentive Program, after which the automaker will mail a certificate to the customer. The customer can then take that certificate to a dealer to complete a test drive, and once that’s completed, the gift card will be mailed out.
Comments
Wish we had an auto show nearby but the state of SC thinks that just one – all the way across the state – is enough, absurdly.
If you’ve never been, take a trip by train to the Detroit or New York international auto shows. The Detroit show right after COVID was a bit of a letdown but overall, I had a good time, and the New York show was a few years before that, and I had a good time as well.
Pretty cool, when I went to Detroit show right after COVID they had the Lightning people could drag and was super popular. It was also the S650 debut for Detroit which was pretty underwhelming since there was a real lack of technical detail on the cars. Seemed like life imitating art by trying to make the whole presentation as close to a TikTok video as they could. Even worse, Ford provided some pretty in-depth technical presentation for social media types, but that was largely a waste of time since they focus on short dumbed down videos, and it would have been nice if Ford would have done a similar presentation at the show where people have time to take that sort of thing in.