Ed, you pointed out correctly that in general car prices have gone up.Another Kona EV???? The main reason why Hyundai is offering the buyback is because of the Kona EV. Why do I want to upgrade to more of the same? That is why there is a lot of inventory because nobody wants to buy it....
You think upgrading to a newer year model will somehow magically solves the battery problem? According to the rep that Mattsburg had talked to, Hyundai believes changing the battery DOES NOT solve the problem. So if the battery is not the problem, then what is? Is it or is it not a battery problem????
Frankly to tell you the truth, Hyundai doesn't know what the problem is.....they are just blaming the battery.
And in turn I pointed in the Northeast U.S. you can now buy a new Kona EV for less than 2 years ago given the incentives Hyundai is offering. So it's quite possible a buy back could end up being a windfall.
I DO happen to believe there's not a significant fire risk on any brand new Kona EV's available for sale today. Feel free to call me naïve, but given everything that's transpired to date I have to believe if this were the case Hyundai would have issued a stop sale on those cars. The LAST thing they would want to do at this point is allow the problem to become larger. And if there were fire risks with the newer cars their already huge liability problem could grow exponentially, especially if there was any indication at all they were aware of this. They already have the hands full.
I do agree with you the demand for Kona EV's has fallen off. I've assumed it's largely related to the publicity about the fires, and given I believe the brand new units for sale today are not subject to the risk, I think there's a significant opportunity to acquire a new Kona EV for far less than would have otherwise been the case (for example the $18,000 in lease incentives being offered on leftover '20's right now).
And if I'm wrong, granted it could be a mistake to acquire one right now, but I would have the protection of a warranty and state lemon laws to at least mitigate the situation somewhat.
I don't know what to make of Mattsburg's comment. I'm thinking it's possible there was a misunderstanding or someone at Hyundai simply does not know what they are taking about. Learned long ago not to trust everything one reads on the internet.
What I do feel confident is saying is that at this point if Hyundai had any indication the battery fire problem is more widespread than they have reported to the Feds, they would have to be absolute fools to withhold the info/data after watching what the Feds did to VW. If the problem is larger, they know the truth will eventually surface.
If the problem was not with the battery manufacturer, why on earth would the battery manufacturer have agreed to contribute so much to the cost of the recall?