When a completely new technology is commercialized, the initial high price is natural. This was the case with computers, mobile phones, and the electric car is no exception. In the 1990s, only a few very important people had the half-rectangular, extremely expensive mobile phone in their pockets, and today there is hardly anyone on earth who does not have such a device.
These devices soon became depreciated as new generations with even more efficiency and more functions appeared. Still, affluent customers receptive to innovation bought these, not caring about the loss of value.
Those who have bought a Porsche Taycan in recent years are firmly in this category. They practically burned the money, in order to experience a modern technology in everyday life early.
On the other hand, they are in a crazy slump, which is difficult to support with sane arguments.
A Jalopnik.com gave an interesting example. They found a tastefully configured Taycan GTS version on Bringatrailer.com. The options alone cost $60,000, the buyer ordered the Burmester premium hi-fi system, selected the Racing Green shade, and paid $193,710 for the car with everything included. He received the car at the end of 2023 and decided to sell it after 322 days of ownership.
This picture was taken during the presentation, when the Taycans cost twice as much (photo: Porsche)
At the end of the bidding, he was able to realize a 38 percent decrease in value. They traveled only 973 kilometers with the car, and it cost him 229 dollars a day, or roughly HUF 88,000. Yes, if the car just stood in the garage and the fly didn’t land on it, its value decreased by HUF 88,000 per day.
So they were only able to sell the new, spotless car at such a depressed price, and they are not alone.
As the price of new electric cars falls, charging times improve, battery technology improves, and China opens the door to the world, the prices of electric cars sold in the past year are falling. A huge gap can be seen especially in the higher price categories.
The price drop will not stop now, these types will become even cheaper in the next period.
A Wired recently looked at depreciation trends for electric cars in the UK and US markets. Particularly poor value retention has been observed for some models. In Great Britain, for example, the Ford Mustang Mach-E and Polestar 2 have lost 52 percent of their original list price in one year, when looking at their net worth. In comparison, the Tesla Model 3 performed better, losing “only” 45 percent of its value in 12 months and 16,000 kilometers.
The real surprise, however, was the Mercedes EQE. This electric sedan has lost nearly 50 percent of its value in just 12 weeks, an extremely poor performance in the electric car market. At the moment, the model EQE 300 is available with 30-40 thousand kilometers for HUF 18-19 million second-hand. Looking back, it can be seen that at the end of 2023 the list prices started at HUF 29,950,000, so the price has dropped by more than ten million HUF in just one year , and because of this the manufacturer was also forced to give way: currently the base price of the EQE is HUF 27.6 million.
Source: www.vezess.hu
