If NJ Hyundai dealer’s don’t price gauge on the Kona, which I am sure they will, we could be looking at payments around $193/mo on the $45K Ultimate after the $5K rebate is restored. That would put a one-pay right around $7000 which is usually Bolt territory. The advantage of the Kona is that it doesn’t depreciate like a Bolt… you will also potentially have positive equity in the lease on top of the great rate.
I’ve been doing a lot of research into both the supply and demand side of this, obviously…
Without CHARGE UP NJ, typical markup, during this present inventory shortage June 2021, is around $1500 on in-demand new Hyundai models, with something like White on Beige Palisade Limiteds going for around $2k-2.5k over.
So, I’d say you’re shooting a little low but, also I wouldn’t call that gouging, when the dealers have fixed allocations and can only get so many cars in. Their model used to be based on a race to selling the most cars with a virtually unlimited supply of inventory; now, they have fewer cars than there is demand for, so they have to make more on each one to stay in business.
I’m hoping for payments around $260 on the Ultimate, $199 on the Limited, but you’re not far off at all.
FWIW, My Kona Ultimate payment is $259 (w/1st DAS) and I derive a lot of value and pleasure from driving it around NJ and the NYC metro. In my Ioniq, I would only use it for local/city driving. I’ve taken the Kona on a few I-95 and shore trips, thanks to the increased range, and it’s exceeded all expectations for comfort on longer trips.
I think many will be cross shopping the Tesla Y vs the Ioniq 5. Thinking about a pre-order on the Ioniq 5 in the next few days. Not sure if there will be any tax credits here in NJ when it arrives or if the cost will be under the $55k cap.
I don’t want to speculate on the pricing of the Ioniq 5, yet.
For me, I’m actually not sure if I even want to upgrade to the 5.
Reason being this: I really like that my EV Kona is not super distinctly styled like an EV.
There are some interesting amenities such as the sliding console and AC power outlets, but something tells me that the Ioniq 5’s demand may push its payments higher than the Kona EV.
Hyundai has committed to a 2022 Kona EV, so it looks like both models will be available at the same time.
If the Kona EV ends up being Hyundai’s “budget” option and the Ioniq 5 ends up being the “premium, futuristic” product, I can tell you that I will be thrilled to see as many EV Hyundai options as possible, and that the Kona EV will be an even more compelling deal for people that can get by on 258 miles of range (that’s enough for the entire Garden State Parkway or New Jersey Turnpike, which are now both lined with charge stations at rest stops).
I do feel Hyundai did a much better job marketing the Ioniq 5 than any EV they’ve had on offer before it, which plays into the original question of this discussion. Not as many people are as aware of the compelling non-Tesla EV offerings, but with cars like Ioniq 5 or GMC Hummer, this is changing.
I’m incredibly grateful for NJ to have established this program as an early adopter and advocate for electric vehicles. It’s just unfortunate how they’ve implemented it for year 2 and how little communication there has been regarding a launch date. Some thoughts:
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Making it point-of-sale could actually be detrimental to customers that aren’t buying a Tesla. Reason being that some dealers could effectively pocket the rebate by offering less of a discount or selling at above MSRP. I’ve witnessed this on the Ioniq with the $7,500 federal incentive. A post-purchase incentive is better for the consumer.
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If customers want to buy out-of-state they should make it part of the program for year 2, especially considering current inventory/production shortages.
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Not announcing a launch date is causing some customers to postpone their transition to electric. I’m personally due for a new vehicle soon and while I don’t absolutely need the rebate to be able to afford an electric vehicle it would be beneficial for me to wait a few weeks until the program is re-established. It’s causing me a lot of headaches and inconvenience if I’m being honest with the terms of the program being so up in the air. It’s great they offer it, just be more transparent about it so customers can plan properly and don’t have to face remorse for missing an incentive they qualify for due to taking delivery a few days beforehand.
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I look forward to being able to make some announcements this week, or early next week. I have a hunch on when the program will begin, and am preparing to support a pipeline of pre-orders in June, on in-stock units, that can be held with a deposit, simply cannot be released until the program begins.
Are you involved with the program? I was thinking about emailing them my feedback.
Also do you think they will support out-of-state sales in year 2? This will be important to note while shopping.
I do not work for the State of New Jersey!
I meant: I will launch my own brokerage program for NJ residents that will pre-sell inventory at my partner dealerships, that leverage the CHARGE UP NJ rebate.
My brokerage is informed and heavily dependent on, but does not control, CHARGE UP NJ’s rules!
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The way I see it - politicians are always spending money, not for the benefit of the customer but their bodies who pay a contribution to the company.
This is consumers got lucky in year 1 and everything is back to normal in year 2 
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It’s obvious to me that this entire program was heavily influenced by the dealer lobby in the state. I don’t think that even they realized how bad the numbers would be vs Tesla so now they are trying to price them out of the program, or at least the full benefit of it.
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Hit the nail on the head
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Andy’s 4-Step Long-Term Financial Plan
- Lease as many EVs as Possible
- Invest in Charge Infrastructure, as much as possible
- ???
- Profit
I have been fighting on everyone here’s behalf to increase availability/stock of EVs, which will induce competition between dealers, in New Jersey. Sitting inventory and increased competition will hopefully lead to lower prices, which will hopefully drive EV adoption. At the end of the day, my long-term investment strategy is to invest in charge station infrastructure. Most of my money is tied up in the fact bet that New Jerseyians will eventually adopt EVs.
It’s just a matter of when. I can assure you I have a huge financial incentive to get as many EVs on the road in NJ as possible, as quickly as possible. I’m not going to build personal wealth $249 at a time.
The Point-of-Sale vs Post-Sale doesn’t matter as much as you may think. Dealers know you are eligible for a Post-Sale rebate so whether you apply or they apply, it doesn’t change how these things will be priced during a demand spike.
Market-based pricing will prevail on EVs, as long as there is an in-stock selection: rebates or no rebates.
The LH crowd is more savvy than most, so its those here that are propelling demand, combined with people like me that are pushing dealerships to invest increasing their supply pipeline for EVs, which are what drive EV adoption in NJ the most.
I’m trying to create a situation where there are more EVs in stock than there are customers looking for them, so that we can all enjoy competitive pricing and not see egregiously marked-up cars.
Don’t forget, dealers need to make significant investments in charging infrastructure to get these cars on the road as quickly as they can with gas cars. One of the biggest contributors to wait times for my customers last year was waiting for cars to be fully charged to take delivery.
If you too want to profit off of the growth of EVs, there are a smattering of public ticker symbols whose businesses revolve around profiting off of there being more EVs on the road. This is not investment/financial advice - but I believe in EVs. And I believe NJ is a near-ideal state to realize their potential.
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Anybody can hack one of these ioniqs i had three sub $100 a month payment in Ny state. The new lineup looks intriguing but NJ should be able to get Sub $75 dollar a month Ev’s with these type of rebates.
F the rebates and NJ rebates in particular. As I’m sitting here reading the latest in the series of idiotic letters from the school district about heat wave and no air conditioners in schools and/or buses, I find it very hard to understand why state government needs to spend money to subsidize products that could just as easily be forced down everyone’s throat on federal level, or by market economics in general.
Tesla should be excluded based on on “luxury brand” along with all other luxury brands, simply because those are “preference” products. The cheaper alternatives don’t need incentives if they are going to compete with their gas counterparts on pricing and features. And lastly do the everyone’s favorite move, tax gas into European levels. Ta-da, no government money needed and everyone is driving electric. Then realize that you have no revenue from gas tax, and tax EVs by some once again random amount, ta-da, everyone is screwed, as it should be!
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.
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sadly
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I don’t necessarily disagree with you but it’s important to make the distinction that these funds come from clean air taxes/fees that utility companies pay, not from property taxes like schools. Granted, I’m sure that the utility companies pass that onto the consumer in at least some form or another. But this isn’t coming from a pie where resources are being taken from another category. These are specifically earmarked for clean air initiatives.
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These changes sound great! Hopefully the dealer lobby can finesse it so that the car must be purchased / leased through a franchise dealer so that Tesla buyers receive 0.
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While I get what you are saying and completely understand the pie allocation, the earmarking of funds for bullshit purposes is the problem. I said that before, build EV infrastructure, not incentivize each car, and the conversion will happen. As it stands right now and the way these brilliant programs are designed is not sustainable. I’m going to buy / lease an EV, but next car I’ll go back to ICE because there is no rebate anymore. I appreciate when people say I’ll never go back to ICE, but that applies to a very small percentage of a very small percentage of population that went EV to begin with.
And why incentivize based on cost of the car or electric milage? How about incentivize based on the car you are replacing? If I junk an 85 towncar in favor of an ionic I get a free ionic. If I junk a a hybrid, I don’t get shit! Cash for clunkers 2.0! That worked out great, let’s do THAT again!
And the problem of taxation is going to come up sooner or later. If there is not enough revenue coming from gas sales, where is the shortage going to come from? More toll roads? With cashless tolling any street can now be converted to a toll road. Per mile tax tied to registration? Unicorn farts? Or most likely from taxing electricity rates.
And let’s not forget the failing grid. How are we going to support the fact that all of these EVs need to be charged somewhere? Everyone starts using air conditioning and there are brown outs and blackouts. Let’s add EVs into a mix, right I forgot we solved that problem with solar panel subsidies.
/rant
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All valid points and I don’t disagree with any of them. However, unless you are going to get into politics and try and change the world, my position is simple: If the incentives are there and worthwhile to me, I will take advantage of them.
I have leased EVs and I have solar panels in NJ. Both of which were strictly financial decisions for me.
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That’s kind of the point of my rants. I didn’t say (at least I don’t think i did while I was rambling on) that I won’t take free money. I just hate what this money is spent on. If the government be it local, state or federal wants to give me money, sure, but it shouldn’t want to. If we have all of this money use it for something useful. But that’s where we go back to @jeisensc meme of “sir this is wendys” 
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