= A great deal that is not a great deal? (see below)
So what you have here is an ingenious plan by MB to get people into an “entry level” (sort of, kind of) EV with the prospect of the “best deal ever,” as a lease but with an artificially low payment and thereby keeping them out of other manufacturers’ EVs for at least 2 years or more. MB continues to tweak the EV lineup in the interim, develop some additional brand loyalty, market share and customer base, then at the end of these leases offer some ridiculously attractive pull throughs and other incentives to get as many as possible into another MB EV as opposed to another brand (already used to the quirks/drivability of an MB EV, have a home charger and whatnot.) This pattern will repeat itself for a few cycles while EVs become the norm, ICE really starts to wane and the EV prices push upward after the initial low price roll outs. Similar in many ways to the “crack dealer” business model.
This is a very smart plan for the long game to meet the MB 2030 EV goal (along with California’s goal, etc.) and keep people in a MB unit until then and beyond. Daimler will “lose” money on paper on these in the short term to kill it on the come as they get to 2030 and beyond after developing a huge new customer base including many that may have now entered the world of MB ownership 10 or more years before the traditional MB ICE demographic.
Other manufacturers are just now about to do the same when it comes to a similar business model (with variations) and those that are not yet will be doing so in the very near future as well.
The issue is that the nationally advertised “Deal” is still $1000/mo+. Even though these deals are becoming more common on LH, your average joe doesn’t know a $100k EQS can be had for <$600/mo.
I don’t think the few people getting deals on here will make a noticeable dent in a plan like what you’ve outlined. When the national deal starts looking like the deal you see on here, I’ll give into the crack dealer logic. I think this will just be a LHer special for a long while
Right, because the 50 LHer deals on here (lurker and active) made up all of the WRX sales as well:
Anyway, I disagree. Tell 20 of your friends and family that are not on LH that have the wherewithal to swing the deal on an EQS and it will be wildfire Cordyceps before you know it.
Most people won’t drive to a dealer 1 hour away, much less reach out to many further
Most people’s lease education comes from a Dave Ramsey video and they’re already turned off from it
Most people won’t negotiate and think the price given is the lowest
Most people don’t know you can lease loaners
It’s sad that we see posts of people who legit bring up leasehackr at the dealership and request the same deal, but that’s just reality. These deals take a lot of work that most people wont do. But I’m not complaining, more deals for us.
Like those that score the Biggie Bag deal @ Wendy’s, I am glad you received the deal you did on your EQS (and yours was the best deal posted for what, 3 hours?), that you find the EQS to be a good car and a good value. MB is also certainly glad that the EQS pricing/sales model got you in the unit and got the unit off their books.
Clearly a solid win all the way around for both you and MB, and for Wendy’s as well.
I don’t think we will see any Taycans anytime soon. We are still 2-3 years out on orders apart from the base RWD. Porsche is really struggling with batteries and allocations were shifted to Europe for emission regulations.
