Christmas spirit shifts to top gear

The shiny new car, topped with a big red bow and parked in the driveway on Christmas morning, isn’t just commercial fantasy or every 15-year-old’s dream.

Luxury auto dealerships in the Washington area say about 20 percent to 30 percent of their December sales are purchases made as holiday gifts, prompting them to keep a hefty supply of oversized red bows.

About 20 percent of customers buying cars at the Rosenthal Jaguar in Vienna, Va., this month are buying holiday presents, sales manager Ogun Yilmazer said.

The dealership is usually in on the plan, dropping the car off at friends’ homes or around the corner from the recipient on Christmas Eve.

“We ruined one surprise … we called the house and the wife [who was to receive the car] answered,” he said.

They don’t call the house anymore.

The Jaguar XJ8 is the most popular gift model and runs about $61,000 — at the low end.

Andrew Menditch, a salesman at Northwest BMW in Owings Mills, Md., sold two BMW 325XIs to one man last week — one for his daughter and one for his wife.

“He’s giving the cars to them for Christmas. For his daughter, it’s a surprise and his wife, it’s not,” Mr. Menditch said.

The bill: about $80,000.

Holiday presents are about 25 percent to 30 percent of December sales at the dealership, general sales manager Jon Orofino said.

Men typically are the buyers and give the cars to their wives or girlfriends, the dealers said.

About half the time, Mr. Orofino said, the recipient knows about the gift in advance to choose colors and styles. But sometimes, the men try to keep it a secret. They do some covert groundwork, trying to pick up hints on favorite colors and must-have accessories, sometimes rousing suspicion in their recipients.

“Even if they have an idea, when they actually get it, they’re surprised because it’s such a big gift,” he said.

There are no industry figures on the number of cars given as gifts, but the concept of a car as a holiday present picked up steam in 1999, when Lexus started its “December to Remember” advertising campaign. The ads featured a man or woman buying a Lexus — topped with a bright red bow — for a grateful spouse.

Story Continues →