SANTA MONICA, CA - Chrysler has taken the lead in presenting consumers with dramatic summer incentives, announcing that the company will cover the first two months payments and provide other generous incentives for new car buyers.

“Consumers have been waiting for automakers to trigger the start of the summer sell-down season, but the wounded auto industry has been trying to avoid boosting incentives in order to preserve profitability and brand equity,” says Jeremy Anwyl, CEO of Edmunds.com, an online resource for automotive information. “It will be interesting to see if Chrysler reverses the anti-incentives trend that has caused such a drag on sales at a time when every shopper seems to be holding out for a better deal.” Edmunds.com collects all regional and national incentives and displays them in a comprehensive car incentives and rebates database.

The average automotive manufacturer incentive in the U.S. was $2,661 per vehicle sold in June 2010, down $36, or 1.3%, from May 2010, and down $196, or 6.9%, from June 2009.