Tesla showed their hand today, and however you feel about Elon, guy is a business guru. A large cut in prices today (while a little can be attributed to micro), a lot of it has to be macro. I don’t think most understand the magnitude of this, but it is the canary in the coal mine.
Why should you not buy a car today or this month (or really for 2 or 3 months if you can hold out)?
If you’re on this forum, odds are you care about getting a good deal.
There are very few (almost none) good deals today excluding a few manufacturers with inventory starting to pile up.
The biggest EV manufacturer (by a humungous margin) made some aggressive price cuts today.
More than less, in my experience, dealers are stubborn. Probably a couple out there who won’t cut prices, even on their used Teslas (which is idiotic as they should now be racing to get those off their lots).
The tide is shifting back to the consumer after 2 dismal years. While manufacturers have wanted to tell a story that this is the new norm and things won’t go back to the way they were, this is false. Tech and banking companies all went on hiring sprees in 2020-2021 thinking this is the new norm, they’re all being forced to reverse course as they were wrong, just like the auto manufacturers.
The bottom line is simple. Tesla already has a massive lead in EVs, EVs are the future, and the savvy business leaders of other manufacturers know they can’t afford to let Tesla build any more of a following, they have to cut prices or lose market share. Chips nor supply chains are an issue anymore, and if they still are, executives who have allowed this to persist need to be fired and you shouldn’t buy that brand due to their incompetence.
With the slump in demand that Elon sees (and nobody on Earth has as good a look into this as him), inventories will start piling up. Consumers will start looking for value and with nice price cuts, they’ll see it at Tesla in the immediate future, taking the already reduced demand away from other manufacturers. They will have to react or fall further behind. If you buy or lease today, expect to see the biggest depreciation of a vehicle in the shortest time that you’ve ever experienced. Don’t believe me, go find anyone who bought a Tesla at any point in the last 12 months (excluding the last week of December).
If you’re a savvy consumer and can find other ways around (extend the lease, ride out the crappy car for just a touch longer, etc., etc.), it is in your best interest to do so. If you can’t, I get it, you’re stuck, but if you can wait, it’s in your best interests to do so.
Disagree, there is no blanket rule that should be applied. Not everyone is buying a Tesla or EV
There are deals that can be found at any time, it may just take some more work.
Although, as you mention, if you can wait/extend your current lease, there is no harm in doing so.
This is the best deal I’ve been able to find on an X7, for the market today, this would be considered a great deal, I consider it a terrible deal. I don’t think many people are going to be able to find better. A lot of others might see value here, I def don’t and would never sign for that.
To your point, there are always deals, but it is in the eye of the beholder.
The biggest EV manufacturer in the world is trying to push as many vehicles as possible. So, specific to autos, they can either fix what is broken ASAP (which they should’ve been doing as a top priority for the last 12 months and some have), or lose market share. Those that did will be rewarded and those that didn’t will be punished. Manufacturers just thought this was a new normal and the gravy train would never leave the station. Chickens coming home to roost. Good for us, bad for them. Specific to autos, I feel strongly this morning we’ll look back at some point on Tesla’s actions and realize this was the exact point the market started returning to normal. My .02.
You’re also leaving out the fact that Tesla had to do this to remain relevant. Many EV buyers skew Democratic and refuse to purchase a Tesla now because of Elon Musk’s recent antics. A neighbor just got rid of his Model 3 for that exact reason. He got an iX and wonders how he dealt with the cheap interior and quality issues of the Tesla for 2 years. It shall be a bumpy road ahead for Tesla considering many of the people that Elon Musk is pandering to refuse to buy any EV
My 2 cents - I’m thinking that the lack of any type of deals for so long means a lot of people have sat on the side lines. Once pricing softens a little then you’ll get more buyers, but due to the supply chain issues taking so long to get resolved and the pent up demand you won’t see any real deals for at least 6 months to year.
I agree that now is NOT the time to buy a house or car, etc. But, for different reasons involving a variety of factors, not just the tactics of one company. 2023 will see more rate hikes and at best, a leveling off in latter part but, no cuts per the brightest talking heads/expert economists.
As such, mortgages continue to get very pricey, an expected drop in RE activity will eat into folk’s home equity/wealth, consumption should slow and auto inventory should begin to catch up with demand, if not exceed it. Used cars are already some 20% lower than this time last year and expected to drop further into 2023. Layoffs have a way of also introducing some consumption panic and 2023 is expected to see layoffs expand beyond the tech/financial sector to the broader economy.
TLDR: we’re clearly headed into a Fed induced recession because unemployment remains low, hiring strong, consumption decent, even amidst slightly dropping inflation. This is NOT the time to make purchases.
