Random EV thoughts.....

What upgrades do they turn off when you sell the car?

Tesla certainly have shaken up the market. Good news for all of us, except those of us who have recently bought. But I suppose the low depreciation couldn't last forever.

Yes but only if sold to Tesla. Third party sales do not get changed

thats a massive jump in Tesla units sold.

Another reason for their price drop may be that the likes of BMW are now on the scene with electric cars and if Tesla can both undercut the old companies by both price and delivery availability, they could make a killing on the company car market.

Just a random fact, that I wouldnt have thought of coming from a place like ireland where cars are mostly bought privately, in Germany something like 90% of Audi A4s are sold to non private customers, whether its for company cars, or indirectly to leasing companies. That means that very few buy new cars direct from the manufacturer and theres a whole "thing" of 1 year old cars being sold on in mint condition. If Tesla cornered that market in Germany, or UK or US, thats a massive blow for the legacy premium car manufacturers.

I did hear a Tesla rep in Germany mention back when they were building their new plant near Berlin that they had plans to go after the company car market (and do this subsidised by the german taxpayer!!!) so maybe this is the beginning of them pricing their cars accordingly..... almost in the sweet spot of an Audi A4 .

(also.... off topic... the CEO of Audi was pondering there before xmas whether they would even exist as a brand in 10 years)

It'll be interesting to see the response from other manufacturers, hopefully will bring prices down overall

I think it's a benefit for everyone, depreciation will still be low compared to historical standards, and if you're trading in for a new car then the new car might be available at a semi realistic price

For example, the price of an ID.4 1st edition Max in 2021 is roughly equivalent to the mid spec one today, and the current Max version is around €15k more

So in 2024 when your PCP is up and you're thinking of trading in, what's the point? You'd have to spend a chunk of cash to get literally the same car, just newer, or settle for a lower spec. Might as well just make the balloon payment and keep the 2021 car

If prices start to drop, then suddenly that newer shiner VW, Kia or Tesla starts to make a whole lot more sense

I can’t see Audi/BMW/Mercedes prices budging much…. But VW, The Koreans and all the rest will have to respond in some way surely?

It seems like Tesla have placed themselves extremely well to go to war against all the competition.. they have all that production already up and running and are about to ramp up massively too…

there will be Tesla’s EVERYWHERE!!

Between Tesla and the Chinese brands the squeeze is definitely on the established players. They got to arrogant with their supply chain over the years and are paying the price for that now which serves them right. I love my german cars but the last 24 months things had become completely stupid.

Its also no longer possible to dismiss the Chinese quality as they are very close now. The BMW iX3 is built in a China and nothing wrong with materials or fit and finish but irs price point is ridiculous, tick a box or two and its 80k.

I'd imagine there are a lot of very stressed sales departments in dealers around the country this morning

Valid points out creatures of habit and the saving could be 5k less in a few months or even by the time some cars get delivered. I just pdf'd Tesla Dublin M3 stock list for reference down the road. It doesn't look to me like they have been altered.

Some cars on donedeal in other dealers have dropped, others haven't but its still very early days yet. Did the same with doendeals listings

I wonder if the oft mooted model 2 would be that 30k EV in europe.

Another cut of 5k on the standard M3 takes it into the 30's technically. I know its the very top but that never stopped the MarCom guys. Probably a strecth but I think its all bit exciting again. I though the whole new car scene had gotten a little dull, be it EV or ICE so its nice to see things getting a bit of a shake up.

How I shopped for my current car was to point out cars to my wife. I tried twice to get her to go to delearships(big financial commitment after all) so instead I would say "what do you think of that car over there?" Now I did test her by pointing out the same car on different days and Yep don't you know it she would say "No, I don't like that car" even though days beforehand she'd say "oh, I really like that one". Shocker eh

She doesn't like Tesla, I don't even think she knows that it is only available in Elec, just doesn't like it. We have a, since new, 2016 Leon FR Diesel, and by god it has served us well. An excellent car being traded in for a PHEV. We have tried for quite a while to order different cars. Eventually had to cancel a Taracco order(Diesel in 2021) as they decided to only make Tiguans because of the higher margin and same parts. I still have a Formentor on order, meant to be built in 2-3 weeks, but Cupra want me to pay €7,600 more for it(Happy new year phone call). So I've my Tucson instead. Model 3 pricing in the past 24hrs got me thinking but I can't really be going back haggling with people on trade in values. It was painful enough a few months ago. So painful one Hyundai dealer offered me €4,500 less than the other guy. Everybody else was within a few hundred but 4.5k................come on.

PHEV will suit us, the missus likes the Tucson(or so she said on alternate days when asked) and our Mileage(with my working from home and no longer visting clients) I only do 38kms a day Mon-Fri. Nuisance of the PHEV Tucson is that it really doens't like operating in full EV mode when the AC or even heating is on.

For fans of drifting and tofu delivery on mountain passes

Pulled in to the rathfarnham shopping centre and there's 4 chargepoint AC chargers.

Clearly marked with green paint on the ground. Obviously not clear enough for the lazy prick in the 181 megane who couldn't possibly walk an extra 10 metres in the empty carpark to get to Dealz.

He pulls out and literally 30 seconds later an oul one in a banger of a corsa pulls in and takes a spot.

I'd love to see clampers take a much more active role in policing EV only spots.

my neighbour was clamped

in that carpark outside Tesco for being over the white line so hopefully they will start clamping at the charging spaces. There is some very questionable parking in that car park!