If You Bought a Tesla One Year Ago It Has Lost as Much as $40k in Value

I think you could frame the complaint along the lines of Tesla making historically large profit margins on their vehicles. This is a good thing for the business and if the customer thinks they're getting value from the product then it's fine for them, too. But once there's competition and that margin starts to look more like a lever that Tesla Motors can use to change its market position, customers might see the other shoe drop.

I dunno, i think it smacks of overly priced items (homes, and apparently cars) being thought of as investments which must retain value. "We can't drop home prices because we'll lose money" some say, and now apparently it's happening on cars?

Kinda feels like our own versions of "too big (expensive) to fail".

"This definitely smacks of Elon derangement syndrome."

Exactly. The author is big sads that polices at their beloved Twitter changed and they will do anything in their very limited power to strike back.

Yawn.

This article fails to mention that there was a brief period from 2021-2022 where ALL cars were priced way higher because of the supply chain woes. Tesla was very transparent about it and other carmakers were not. Model 3 long range was pushing 70k in California at one point. But at the same time, dealerships were selling Mazdas for 50k. Yes those people who bought at the peak will see extreme depreciation, but that is for all the cars.

Funnily, that was also a time when a buddy of mine ended up selling his 2019 model 3 for a 8k profit because cars were that expensive.

There is nothing "weird" about the article. Author notes that people who bought Teslas last year have seen a rapid depreciation because of price cuts. No reason for people to get up in arms.

For people who bought a Tesla and saw rapid depreciation it truly does suck. For people who haven't but are thinking of buying a Tesla, well good for them. They get to buy it at a discount. I'm in neither camp so the story gets a yawn from me, but I can see how there are actually people in both of the other camps, with varied responses to the cuts.

The incantation of "[something] derangement syndrome", along with the misplaced attempts at [sic], makes this a pretty tenuous critique and kind of undermine your point. It makes you look oddly defensive of the world's richest man.

This discussion is almost entirely filled with "Leave Elon alone!" type rhetoric, which is actually "extremely weird". I cannot fathom the sort of derangement that motivates one to do that.

Elon derangement syndrome is a bit different from other reality bubble symptoms, in the sense that he had a unreasonably good reputation ~5 years ago, and so the symptoms can also be seen when people switch to the correct interpretation of his statements. There is no world in which reasonably skeptical people believe:

> “I think the most profound thing is that if you buy a Tesla today, I believe you are buying an appreciating asset, not a depreciating asset.”

> “Buying a car today is an investment into the future. I think the most profound thing is that if you buy a Tesla today, I believe you are buying an appreciating asset, not a depreciating asset.”

I think it is a bit of an unusual situation, in the sense that

* Musk claims Teslas will appreciate. This is obviously a lie, but he said it.

* Cars do obviously depreciate

* Although, there was also a sort of used car bubble last year, so the change in cost is quite large

No. He doesn't mean it dropped because used. He means sticker dropped.

Article claims new it was $120K last year and new it's $80K this year.

I’m pretty sure I could have sold my (~10 years old, but I bought it used ~6 years ago) for more than I bought it for last year. Kinda regret not doing so, and I’d be in better shape, as I’d have to ride my bicycle around.

> Tesla is constantly bumping its prices up and down nearly randomly. Talk about how weird or not weird that is, how it compares to other car companies, how it's good or bad for Tesla.

The dealers do that for other automakers. They heavily marked up cars during the pandemic, with the value not going to the companies, shareholders or employees that make them.

Tesla is sort of unique for the massive price swings.

It is slightly different— usually the new vehicle has a stable price and drastic price drops in the new vehicle don’t contribute to loss of resale value.

Buyers before bought thinking resale values would be stable, but sudden price drops from the mfr helped to undermine this assumption.

I’m not saying this is bad on Tesla’s part but we shouldn’t be surprised that it has upset some owners.

Agree. The company would be better off if Elon stepped into the shadows and let someone else be the CEO/main face of his companies-delegation, no need to sell.