Study Points To BMW 3 Series As Best Premium Car Deal For This Shopping Season - The Model 3 Effect?

A new study has found that the BMW 3 Series is the model in America most likely to be heavily discounted this shopping season. Is this fact another part of the Tesla Model 3 effect, or is it just Americans moving away from sedans? Or maybe it's because the Model 3 is about to be replaced with a new generation? Whatever the reason, the BMW 3 Series is the model that is most likely to be discounted this shopping season according to researchers iSeeCars.

iSeeCars does research projects to determine interesting model and brand facts. Most recently, researchers at the publication looked to see what the average was for all models to be discounted by at least 5% of the normal price. This provides a baseline from which the group could then compare individual models to in order to see if they are more or less likely to be discounted. The average percentage of deals for all models is 40.5%. Meaning that about 4 in ten of any given models being sold are discounted by the seller by 5% or more.

Next, iSeeCars compared individual models to the average to see how they ranked. The BMW 3 Series turns out to be the individual model with the most deals. Its peers the Mercedes E-Class and Audi A4 were also very likely to be discounted more than the norm. “Given the declining sedan segment, dealers are more likely to discount these cars in order to sell them,” said Phong Ly, iSeeCars CEO. “The growth in popularity of auto leases in recent years has led to an influx of these often-leased luxury vehicles in the used car marketplace after their lease terms end,” said Ly.

BMW's 3 car sales have declined by double-digit figures as of late. In fact, Tesla's Model 3 now outsells every BMW car model combined.