If you are shopping for an electric car, your timing just improved as a handful of automakers cut EV prices.
First, Tesla dropped prices. Then Lucid made a slash. Now Ford has responded by dropping the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of its Mustang Mach-E.
Is the time right for you to make a move? And what prompted the price drops in the first place?
The initial price cuts came from Tesla in response to new federal laws addressing electric vehicle tax rebates. While the volume cap was removed for automakers to qualify for the $7,500 tax rebate, a price cap was installed. This cap is a move to help consumers find more affordable EV options.
To qualify for this rebate, an electric car needs to be under $55,000, and an electric SUV must be under $80,000. Tesla chopped its prices down across the board. Not every vehicle lands under the price cap, but they all took a significant price cut.
The most notable of the bunch for Tesla is the Model Y. It went from a starting price of $65,990 down to $52,990. That’s a 20% price cut, and that’s before you factor in the federal tax rebate. That’s impressive.
Lucid responded to this move from Tesla by dropping the price of the Air by $7,500. But this one is a bit less impressive since no Lucid model will qualify for the tax credit. The new price here only applies to those leasing a Lucid Air.
The loophole here is that a leased Lucid is leased through the Lucid Financial Service, which retains ownership of the vehicle as part of its fleet during the leasing period. This allows the car to qualify for a business tax credit for Lucid, which can forward the credit to the customer in the form of a $7,500 payment right off the bat for the lease, potentially lowering the monthly lease payment.
This strategy is not as dramatic as what Tesla has done, but still not bad if you are considering leasing a Lucid.
Back down to more realistically priced vehicles, relative to Lucid offerings, Ford has shifted the pricing of its Mach-E. The lowest price move comes on the base Select RWD Standard Range, which goes from $46,895 to $45,995. That’s a drop of $900. More dramatic, though, are the drops on the other models. A Premium RWD Standard Range goes from $54,995 down to $50,995. The Premium eAWD drops from $57,665 to $53,995. A California R1 eAWD Extended Range moves from $63,595 down to $57,995, and finally, the GT Extended Range goes from $69,895 to $63,995. Additionally, the extended range battery option has moved from $8,600 to even $7,000.
You might think the Model Y and the Mach-E are often marketed as electric SUVs. That’s true, but the Department of Transportation calls them tall sedans, which is much more accurate. And that’s why a bunch of Tesla and Ford EVs now drop below that $55,000 price cap threshold.
So for all the Mach-E models that hit the mark, they’ve become a bit more attractively priced. Because, once again, those numbers don’t include the $7,500 tax rebate. And I know that’s not cash in your pocket either, but if you need a way to lower your tax liability, that’s always a nice thing, right?
For more information on this whole thing, check out this article from our sister site, Kelley Blue Book.
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