The Kia EV6 has quickly become one of Australia’s most sought-after cars, but Kia has become a victim of its own success, with some buyers now “bolting” their cars for a big profit and making it difficult. that real customers are behind the wheel.
Light electric vehicle prices officially start at $ 67,990, but aspiring entrepreneurs are capitalizing on the crazy demand for the car (and new electric vehicles in general) by swapping EV6s for crazy premiums above their MSRP.
DMARGE searched Carsales’ EV6 lists and found that the cheapest list since publication, a single-engine model Moonscape Gray GT-Line RWD in Sydney with just under 2,500km on the clock, was asking for $ 99,900. This is approximately a 33% premium over the MSRP. There are also several listings for the same price in Gumtree.
Other listings were rising to six figures, especially for top-tier GT-Line AWD dual-engine vehicles. It is a frustrating problem for the South Korean carmaker as well as for real customers, who are missing out on the queue or are reduced by the fins.
“The main problem we are facing right now is the reversal … It seems to be a much bigger problem in the market than delivery to the dealership,” says Damien Meredith, CEO of Kia Australia.
With its sporty look, a range of up to 528 km, 430 kW of power and a time of 0 to 100 km / h of 3.5 seconds (to GT specifications), the Kia EV6 is an impressive beast. Image: Kia Australia
“We’ve heard stories of people buying a car, on the East Coast, the Sydney Underground, and appearing in Western Australia, with a premium of $ 8,000 to $ 10,000.”
Damien Meredith
Our research suggests that leverage is even worse than that.
This is the same type of aggressive speculative buying that is usually seen with luxury items, such as Rolex watches. The popular stainless steel Rolex like the Daytona, the Submariner “No Date” or the GMT-Master “Pepsi” have so much demand that the waiting lists for dealers are literally years … And the prices in the market for spare parts are sometimes 150% or even 200% higher. retail.
RELATED: Why Rolex watches are so hard to get
Speculation about Rolex watches has only gotten worse with COVID and the consequent global economic downturn. It makes sense: people are just trying to make money fast and this kind of thing always gets worse when the economy is in a bad place.
Kia Australia is supporting electric vehicles significantly, as evidenced by its high-profile “Kia Aura” activation at Vivid 2022. Image: Destination NSW
But (no matter how hard it is for me to admit personally) you can live without a Rolex. Australians cannot live without a car, and while the EV6 is by no means the only new car on the market, Australia desperately needs the transition to the electric motor to help combat rising emission levels, way people play silly insects with new electric vehicles like this. it is enormously harmful.
Let’s cross it out as the supply chain problems induced by COVID-19 eventually work on their own, and both the state and federal governments of Australia facilitate the purchase of electric vehicles, thus facilitating the purchase of electric vehicles. marks the justification for bringing more electric vehicles down; we will see that fewer laps occur. .
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