Car and Driver just awarded its "2023 EV of the Year" to the Hyundai Ionic 6. Only models that were newly introduced or significantly changed were in the running. That means the 2023 Niro EV was in the competition, and C&D had some nice things to say about it, starting with "There should be more EVs like the Kia Niro". They applauded its rational size and specs as a city runabout, but thought it needed a more rational price. Sure, its base price of $40,875 seems pricey, considering you no longer get the $7,500 Fed tax rebate (a big reason I bought a 2022 Niro EV). The fact my local Kia dealer has half-a-dozen on their lot, with markups of $5,000 doesn't help either. Maybe Kia is realizing this - they have started advertising 36-month lease deals of the base model at $329/mo and $3,999 down. I wonder - is that low enough for people to consider leasing these? Or are better deals on Niros yet to come?
It's only my opinion, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect tax credits once the market has started to shift to EVs. If the price of the car is equivalent to a comparable ICE car, then the operating cost of an EV will easily make an EV the better deal. Of course, I don't want to pay more than necessary, but at some point we have to realize the incentives no longer serve the purpose they were created for.
The single greatest barrier to EV adoption in North America is legacy auto dealers actively discouraging buyers.
The lease actually sounds like a really good deal. $4k down with $329/mo for 36 months is less than $16k. If the 2023 tracks like my 2020, I paid $40k and now it's worth $15k (minus the loss of value for the defects)...but so $15k-ish in perfect condition, which means I lost $25k in value over 3 years. Then after 3 years the car is gone before the problems start happening. In hindsight I would have been 100% better off leasing than buying if such a deal had been available.
Why is your Niro only worth $15K? I have a 2019 Niro and it's definitely worth more than that... KBB rates mine at $22-25K. Also, just to point out... your 2020 Niro EV got a $7500 tax credit, so you should include that in your math. Factoring in the tax credit, my car has only lost about $2000/year in value. (After the tax credit, my car cost about $33K)
I’m not factoring in the tax credit in the cost above, just the purchase price. As for the resale value…good question. I’m sure it varies by market. We were desperate trying to sell it to get it out of our lives, went everywhere. Our original offer was $19k but the defect came back, so after repair attempt #3 fixed it temporarily we went on the prowl to sell it again (this was just a month or so later) and offers were down to $15k. Of course then the defect returned and it’s unsellable (however we decided not to sell it at $15k anyway), currently at the dealership for….3 weeks now? Anyway, your guess is as good as mine. Everywhere we went that was the best offer. We probably could have tried a private sale and gotten a little more of course. With the defect (light showing) the offer was $10k. Edit: we also have 65k+ miles on it so that lowers the value a bit too.
I have a 2022 Niro, bought it end of May 2022- and it only has 7,000 miles on it. I was loosely considering trading for a Tesla Model 3 when prices came down a month or so ago- and was shocked to see that trade-in value on my Niro is only about $20k, with the very best purchase offer I was able to get from Caravan being $25K. I paid $41,500 for it a year ago, and fortunately was able to get the full $7500 tax credit, bringing it down to about $34K. But dang, that is a hefty drop in one year, when the car is still in new, pristine condition.
I'll be curious to see how the "Used EV tax credit" impacts resale values for used EVs. Intuitively, it should help boost demand, since it brings the effective selling price down. There's probably also some volatility inherent to the price of gas - if we see another price spike in the future, that would also likely affect demand/price.
