The commercials sound too good to be true. Buy a new Hyundai, they say, and the company will send a monthly payment to you for six months.

As most of you know, the process usually works the other way around.

Is it real?

Sort of.

The New York Times explains, "What the commercial doesn't say is that the company isn't offering new money, but simply repackaging existing customer rebates. You have to go to the consumer Web site to learn that, under the Hyundai Assurance program, you can either get the six months of payments or use existing rebates to reduce the purchase price of a vehicle."

Kicking Tires explains, "Say you buy a 2008 Veracruz that already has a $4,000 cash-back offer. Rather than getting a $4,000 price reduction, you can opt for six monthly payments of $666.67 to a Visa debit card. In other words, it's a different package for the same offer."

Hyundai's inventive incentives have given the Korean automaker a significant edge over rivals during the current recession. Autoblog comments, "The Hyundai Assurance program may well go down as the most innovative and perhaps successful marketing campaign of 2009. The program was so perfect for our economic times that General Motors and Ford eventually followed suit with very similar offers." But, with this latest offering, "Hyundai's marketing magic may have worn out."

After all, buyers taking the incentive up-front can use the cash to lower the purchase price of the vehicle, lower the amount financed, and ultimately, lower the amount paid in interest over the life of the loan - a better deal than six cash payments.

If you're in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year's best cars as well as this month's best car deals.