The depreciation curves aren't quite that steep, but there are still some startlingly low prices on ICE cars that used to be very expensive.
Edmunds ran a long term test on an used MB CL65. They paid $40K in 2014 for a car that initially stickered in 2005 for $180K. So at least more accessible than it used to be. Of course, their ownership was then punctuated with hard to find parts and $16K repair bills. A year later, they had to drop their asking price from $28K to resell it at $25K.
https://www.edmunds.com/mercedes-benz/cl-class/2005/long-ter...
High end cars tend to have high end problems even if they don't hang on to their high end prices.
Right but it's now a ten year old car. You didn't pay $40k and get a $180k car. You paid $40k and got $40k of car. I don't get why people are so excited to 'save' $140k, because they haven't gotten any of that value.
Agreed... and I think it's even more the case in that part of the value of that car is the price tag itself and the exclusivity it brings to your purchase. The used car doesn't have that (and it does have the associated downsides of the expensive and complex car).
It is amazing to look at the used car market (for likely daily driven vehicles) and see how specific vehicles hold their value so much differently. There are specific Audis that have a proclivity to grenading their $20k-to-replace transmissions at 80k miles, or have a rear engine timing chain that is a low 5 digit replacement when it eats a guide. So these once $80k cars can be had for a steep discount given someone is paying a huge repair bill if it is to still be driven. Even with econoboxes from finance companies who happen to sell cars (think FCA) that have had consistent sludge/electrical/emission issues over the last 3 decades-- the price falls so much faster than an equivalent Toyota. While nowadays nearly any mass market car will be able to run for 200k miles, how much will it cost to achieve said goal? This is not entirely unknown to buyers, so prices do tend to reflect. It isn't foolproof-- companies like Toyota and Honda can make crappy cars, and bad companies can make good cars-- but the average consumer uses a lot of heuristic shortcuts/anecdotes/etc. to make purchasing decisions.
The enthusiast segments are even more fascinating. Certain cars are going to be more akin to works of art, even if they weren't supercar expensive to begin with: see S2000's and mk4 Supras. Even further, some vehicles for some reason are not inherently reliable, have mediocre drivetrains and practical functionality but have a much shallower depreciation curve-- Jeep Wranglers.
The supply is already gone and has been for a while. The other comment in this thread on ever-smarter (cloud connected) cars too means that the market for not-cloud-connected cars is going to continue to increase too.
Such as:
* Toyota Tacoma - yes * Subaru WRX STI - yes
But getting into the honda accord, toyota camry, these are the ICE vehicles that are going to be crazy cheap.
Nowadays old cars and buses get exported to less developed countries, e.g. in Africa. So, there'll be a lot of Africans driving Bentley instead.
The type of depreciation you're describing would happen in response to an extremely sudden change in circumstances, which I'm not expecting.
ICEs are dying predictably enough for that Bentley to never have been bought at its original price.
Now with even more expensive repair bills than before!