Discounts
From 13,000 euros: The cheapest electric car has never been so cheap – despite the end of the funding
The Dacia Spring is available from just 13,000 euros – a new electric car has never been this cheap.
© Dacia / PR
There was a huge outcry in December: almost over the weekend, the government ended state funding for electric cars. The drive change seemed to be at the tipping point. Now it turns out: prices are in free fall, without any subsidies.
Numerous manufacturers are reducing prices
Because Dacia is by no means alone. The Volkswagen Group also recently introduced the “environmental bonus”. Behind this is a comprehensive price reduction with deductions of almost 8,000 euros. Both the ID.3 and the ID.4 cost less than 33,000 euros after deducting the new discounts. That is less than it would have been in 2023 after deducting state funding.
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The list goes on: Citroën reduced prices by up to 6,000 euros last fall, the Born from the VW subsidiary Cupra is 10,000 euros below the list price, Smart grants 3,000 euros, Mercedes-Benz pays out the environmental bonus in full own pocket, Kia promises up to 6750 euros and Tesla still lists an environmental bonus of 2250 euros when purchasing a vehicle. The situation is similar for most other manufacturers.
Most manufacturers are countering the fear that interest in electric cars would decline after the end of government subsidies with discounts. People don’t want to know how many millions in taxes could have been saved if pricing had been left to the corporations from the start.
Discounts are less predictable – but they exist
Immediately after the bonus was abolished, things happened remarkably quickly until the brands came forward to generously cover the additional costs, while at the same time sharp criticism of politics was expressed. Now, on top of that, individual discount campaigns follow, which are still based on the lost premium, but often even go one step further.
Buyers should just be aware that manufacturers’ discounts are not as predictable as the promotion was. Even if its abrupt end was certainly a shocker, fixed subsidies could be counted on for a long time and across all brands. Now they are classic, time-limited and very different offers.
However, the individual discount has another advantage: In principle, there is no longer an upper limit for the gross list price of the vehicles. If a manufacturer wants to discount a vehicle, its original price no longer plays a role. The electric car bonus, on the other hand, had hard limits when it came to possible funding.
Further price wars are to be expected
After the bonus was abolished, experts feared that the market for electric cars would collapse like an avalanche if the federal government stopped receiving money. The fear can probably be dampened somewhat because the manufacturers are obviously very aware of their inventory and are now calculating differently. The customer doesn’t care whether this reduces the company’s profits.
As buyers across the industry are now getting used to the new prices and deep discounts, it is unlikely that there will be a switch back to the original list price after the current promotions end, which for many is at the end of March. So electric car buyers can probably look forward to an old-school price war in which, as the saying goes, the market rules.