What do they do with old new cars?
 

What do they do with old new cars? For instance, what will Subaru do with all of their unsold 2004 WRX's when 2005s are on sale? Do they just send them back? Sell them at ridiculously low prices that I miss the ads for? Recycle them? Does it vary by manufacturer?

They just sell them. On dealer lots. Plain and simple.
Yes, there are usually discounts. Not huge "we're giving it away" discounts, but usually a good deal. Certainly not at rediculously low prices. Just a few thousand off, if that.

Yes, they advertise the hell out of year end clearances, and I don't know how you'd miss the ads.

Some manufacturers make deeper discounts than others. It depends on how many of what model they have sitting around, and how bad they want to move them.
But, no one is giving cars away, or sending them back, because the next newest model year came out.

Ya they mark them down hardcore. I have seen ads you just have to go to the dealer to see the ads:)

They probably sell them at places that rent cars.

But who buys a used rental...well selling them there you would think that :crazy:

I bought a loaded 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP in mid-October. Got a great deal on it. The car had been on another dealer's lot when the 05s came out. Pontiac bought it back and then made it available to other dealers at a huge discount. The dealer I bought it from picked up quite a few. Since I use my car for business travel, it was a great deal for me. New car, used car price.

i work at Ford here where i live, toward the end of 2004, the 05's started coming in, and once we had a good stock of them, the 04's go on a bunch of different sales, discounts, rebates... theyre a little more flexible on making a deal...

and lets say its in the end of 2004, (no 05's yet though) if a vehicle is so many months old, they put them on sale too, so they dont sit around for so long.