If leasing is not available, would you cancel your Gravity order?

[illopp00]

Hopefully others will weigh in with their thoughts. I'm new to this leasing stuff.

You could pay out that cash in two phases over time in two ways instead of all at once. Choices:

1. Lease to get $7.5k credit off MSRP. Ask for lease buyout option and pay off lease right away with cash. @borski isn't this what you did with your Ioniq 5?

2. Lease to get $7.5k credit, pay lease over however many years you decide, look at residual value, and decide to either pay residual with cash or find a used Gravity (if lower priced than residual on your lease) and pay cash. One challenge is finding the exact used Gravity with the features you want and decent mileage. Exploring a lease option can't hurt. Get details and then decide.

Of course paying cash upfront saves you more on interest costs during a lease than the $7.5k credit unless immediate lease payoff.

If you definitely know you want to keep your Gravity, consider a slush fund for future battery replacement. Who knows, by time one is needed the price should be quite a bit lower. By time the warranty expires there should be new battery tech.

A lease does give you the most optionality. I calculated I could cancel out half the depreciation over 2-3 years by keeping the remaining cash that would have gone for an upfront purchase in the market with a conservative return and investment....

 

[msaunders9430]

A lease does give you the most optionality. I calculated I could cancel out half the depreciation over 2-3 years by keeping the remaining cash that would have gone for an upfront purchase in the market with a conservative return and investment....

This leasing stuff can get complicated in some ways, depending on a buyer's situation and intent.
I get the simplicity of paying cash if you know you want a car and don't want to deal with the market, financing, and willing to take the risk of ownership from a new carmaker.

If you know you want a car and have the cash, seeking a single pay lease upfront sounds like the best move especially if the tax credit lowers the price.

In my situation of leasing and paying rv in cash, it works for me.
The issue of ppf came to mind.
I think I'm going to do the ppf because I want to buy.

Looking for a used Gravity with decent mileage, no issues, updated software, etc. could be like finding that needle in a haystack.
I've also read the stories of a used Air having software update issues.
There's also the possiblity of issues the previous owner didn't know about.
Typical use car issues with any car (ev or ICE).

 

[RedTanuiki]

I prefer to lease so that I can avoid the big ht on sales tax here in California. I also like to know where I stand at the end since you don't know where the final value is. Yes, if value exceeds the cashout, then you can buy and make money. I am not sure where it will stand with a new vehicle that has yet to hit the road. I think I will love the car but need to see it in person before I make a final decision and I need to see the fiscal parameters of the lease program.

 

[Omegadog12]

I live 1.5 hours from Charlotte and 2 hours from Atlanta. This helps me to stop thinking about service locations and likely eliminate the Volvo EX-90 from consideration. Thanks much for the info @msaunders9430 !

 

[tonybot]

I never used to lease. But I leased my last two vehicles - the first one being my Lexus RXL. The second one is my Air Pure. When it was time to return my Lexus, the market value for that vehicle was a lot more than my lease buyout cost. I could have bought, turned around, sold it at the local CarMax, and walked away with about $8k. My calculus for leasing air was to avail myself of the tax of $7.5k and have a choice at the end of the lease to return it or keep it, depending on the market at that time. Who knows how EV tech will evolve by then, and who knows what Lucid's status is? So, leasing de-risks my decision and gives me another shot at the end of the lease to keep it or return it, based on the ground realities at that time. Considering the rapidly evolving EV space and the depreciation, I wanted to defer my purchase decision to 36 months. I don’t argue this approach is right or wrong. I'm just sharing how I think about it.

 

[msaunders9430]

I live 1.5 hours from Charlotte and 2 hours from Atlanta. This helps me to stop thinking about service locations and likely eliminate the Volvo EX-90 from consideration. Thanks much for the info @msaunders9430 !

Sounds good.
I'm hoping the experienced leasees here will refute any errors on my part.

 

[NoseyReporter]

If I leased one, it would be a company car. I'd use it 100% for company work. One hundred percent.

 

[californiaboy935]

No company's existence is ever guaranteed.

Maybe this is the hubris of the young… but with how much PIF and other growth investors have bought in I think it’s safe to say the runway for the company is long.

Fisker, (which I don’t even want to bring up because it has almost nothing to do with the viability of a company like Lucid) was doomed due to mismanagement and federal loan revocation. I think the fact that you have large brands looking to partner with Lucid ( and depend on them for drive train/bat management tech) means that the internal analyst for those large corporations have done a lot of due diligence and agree that Lucid isn’t going anywhere.

I feel that I wouldn’t take into account Lucid going bankrupt or defaulting in a way that would limit the availability of service for the car. It would certainly hurt depreciation wise, but not to the extent that I think the original poster is thinking.

Also never put any money down on a lease if you can help it just my two cents.

 

[borski]

Maybe this is the hubris of the young… but with how much PIF and other growth investors have bought in I think it’s safe to say the runway for the company is long.

Of course, but my point is that anything can happen. I've seen it lots of times before. All it takes is a series of poor decisions.

I'm long on Lucid and don't think they're going anywhere; I'm a (small) shareholder and soon to be the owner of two DEs, lol, so you don't need to convince me.

I agree with you that the future of Lucid looks extremely promising and that, as usual, their imminent failure has been greatly overstated, for the four-hundred-eighty-ninth time.