Redhot2474
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Marc
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2022
- Threads
- 48
- Messages
- 508
- Reaction score
- 718
- Location
- Shelton CT
- Vehicles
- Taycan GTS
I was being facetious about the CWM. It's an option like any other, which means it fully depreciates after 4-5 years. When looking at resale value of a 4-5 year old car, the dealer primarily looks at the VIN (which has the trim embedded), mileage, and condition. There may be some options like PB+ or leather interior, but they probably change the value very little. IMO white vs. CWM will make no difference in price in 4 years.
I fully agree about car ROI being enjoyment. With very few exceptions, all new cars have a negative monetary ROI, unless you are a dealer.
some solid points…I have to admit (and had a different opinion 6 mo ago) there IS something OFF about Taycan depreciation in current market, OP's situation starkly demonstrates this.
Known contributing factors:
1- UK Depreciation in particular driven by ongoing tax benefits for businesses floods the market
2- US situation is less dire but still a lot of old owners who got the 7500 tax credit and paid a lower list price pressuring market with their willingness to accept lower trade-in prices.
3- The recent sudden Anti-EV narrative... i lost the number of articles that pop up online with the headline "Consumers don't want EVs", with no real new data or additional insight provided in the body of the article, other than generic explanations like "range anxiety" - and these started to pile up suddenly in the last 3 or so months. Almost feels like a coordinated effort..
Now setting these known factors aside I think there is still a difficult to explain element with regards to Taycan's record breaking depreciation levels.
Take the 911-Taycan discrepancy. Yes 911s known to depreciate generally less than most cars. But the discrepancy vs Taycan is reaching truly ridiculous/irrational levels, when you think about the significant overlap between the driver base & use case similarity for both models (Just look at this forum and check how many Taycan drivers are coming from 911s).
When I bought my Taycan I had an allocation for a base 911 and was ready to pull the trigger but switched to Taycan when one became available (as much as I love my Taycan, WHAT A MISTAKE, in hindsight, finanically speaking). My 911 build's MSRP was coming to ~$10K higher than the Taycan. After less than 2 years I am just looking at what I would get for my Taycan with 4K miles on it, and it is only ~50-60% of what I would get for the 911 today! How in the hell? It is sometimes truly difficult to understand consumer behavior. Why would one be willing to pay close to MSRP for a used 911 that is about to get out of warranty when they can simply order a new one but not willing to take massive discounts over MSRP for a CPO'd Taycan? 911 is not a rare car by any means unless you are talking about a GT3. Last year 10.000+! 911s were delivered in the US. That is 40% more than Taycan deliveries! Previous years were not any different. There is a massive 911 car park out there.
I do think some of this is truly self full-filling/circular logic, that should eventually unwind. It starts with the premise "911s don't depreciate" and based on that presumption a bunch of people drop ridiculous amounts of money to buy used 911s instead of just ordering a new one and then boom 911s really don't depreciate. And many people stick to their 911s because they are not worried about depreciation (which contributes to circularity). Circularity is exactly the opposite direction for Taycan. Even interested people are now scared of buying the car because of depreciation, or some are looking to sell prematurely nervously watching the depreciation horror film.
If you look at the "fundamental value" offered by the two cars over their useful life (like you would do when comparing two stocks) - it is impossible to imagine such a difference. A "perception" element going on right now that is comparatively undervaluing Taycans big time. I can’t really think of anything else other than an overblown fear around "it is an EV, it will brake down, battery will degrade", amplified by self-fulfilling depreciation cycle.
I think Porsche needs to do something about this. And trust me "luxury cars are not investments" mantra won't fly at these depreciation rates if they want to maintain reasonable volume of new car sales. Why not maybe offer a longer warranty for EVs? Once they are through the learning curve, EVs should truly have higher reliability with way less moving parts. Maybe offer an HQ underwritten standardized extended warranty program. Market widely with ability to sign-up online, just like connectivity subscriptions (as opposed to an opaque extended warranty process where you need to haggle with a shark that is dressed like a dealer finance manager in a small cubicle, fighting over a completely non-standardized/non-transparent pricing structure). Charge $1500-2000 per year (still less than what a 911 customer would pay for annual oil changes, brake-pad depreciation and premium gas cost over electricity bill). That could reliably take away 5-digit breakdown bill fear from customers and fix the perception issue.
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