Jerry Oppenheimer is new york times Bestselling author and frequent contributor to DailyMail.com
Auto industry insiders told DailyMail.com that while luxury car prices have stopped rising, sellers are at a loss, but it's creating a golden opportunity for buyers.
Popular everyday cars such as Kia and Ford, due to high demand and lack of showrooms, can cost dealers thousands of dollars in price increases above the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP). .
But sellers of high-performance, collectible dream cars such as the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Maserati and other well-to-do cars have taken a severe economic hit.
"Many of these cars are overrated and people pay way too much for them," said Todd Rowsell, sales manager at iLusso, a costly new and used exotic car dealer in Costa Mesa, California. was
The Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen, a favorite among celebrities, has seen its prices plummet after the market downturn.PHOTOS: Kendall Jenner at the wheel of G-Wagen in May 2022
The Maserati is one of the hardest hit cars, with some selling for thousands of dollars off the mark at exotic auto dealerships. Photo: Maserati MC12
"Everybody was used to buying cars like the G-Wagen and flipping them over to make money," he told DailyMail.com. I have.”
The boxy, tall, four-wheel-drive G-Wagen is considered the Jeep Wrangler of the rich and famous, and is favored by celebrities such as members of the Kardashian family and stars such as Sylvester Stallone and Hilary Duff.
More than a third of luxury SUVs are sold in California, with the majority in Hollywood, according to Mercedes data.
"The G-Wagen was selling for as much as $100,000 above the manufacturer's suggested retail price for Mercedes-Benz's immediate production, but surprisingly, the market was cheap money, demand, and Mercedes-Benz has been artificially inflated by reports that they are dropping the V8 G-Wagen" ignited the splurge.
“Now things are starting to return to what they should be, a more normalized market,” Rowsell said.
Todd Rowsell, sales manager at iLusso, a dealer of expensive exotic cars new and used, told DailyMail.com about the current market conditions.
Automotive website Jalopnik recently quoted a luxury car dealer who goes by the Twitter nickname CarDealershipGuy, saying a 2021 G-Wagen with around 3,300 miles sold for $187,000. this year. '
He described the exotic car market as "devastated".
All of this, experts say, makes for a great opportunity to buy exotic cars at significantly reduced prices.
"It's certainly a good thing for today's buyers," said Rowsell, who has been in sales for 26 years.
"Unless the trade-in is upside down because you bought it six months or a year ago and paid too much, you can get some good deals.
“We have a lot of clients who bring in cars expecting to pay what they paid for the car three years ago, or more. But the market is changing and the prices are changing. .
The famous Mercedes-Benz G-Wagens were selling for $20,000 to $100,000 more than sticker prices after a surge in demand.
The popular Lamborghini Urus (which Justin Bieber is seen driving with his wife Hailey in West Hollywood) is now being supplied at certain dealerships in more than a typical car model, but this is due to the vehicle's That's because owners who paid high premiums are now seeking relief, experts say.
“Certain sectors like the Bitcoin market are collapsing and people are clearly scared to sell,” Rowsell added.
"They don't like the number one offer, but that's the reality of the situation. It's going to take them a long time to sell."
Exotic cars such as Rolls-Royces, Bentleys, McLarens and Aston Martins are also "not doing well" when it comes to sales, said a Ferrari dealer general manager on the Reddit site dedicated to auto industry chatter.
"In two months, [having] G-Wagen and Lamborghini Urus are like having AIDS,” declared Pintycat123, noting that the $250,000 Urus SUV for sale on eBay was more than certain popular Honda models. did. You are probably at a loss.
And he admitted that his Ferrari dealership, which sells other luxury cars like BMWs, "has suffered massive losses on certain cars as the market continues to decline." rice field.
Another source says Urus owners are "getting their heads around the dealers" who buy them at deep discounts and resell them second-hand for close to the original sticker price. .
Car and Driver magazine describes the 657-horsepower Lamborghini Urus as “not just an exotic SUV with a supercar badge, but a supercar with an SUV shell,” with a starting price of $250,000.
However, one Urus owner with 124,000 YouTube subscribers uploaded a video ranting about the car:
"Why would you want this? This is one of Lamborghini's ugliest creations," he says in the video.
He also called it "an expensive Audi... with a Lamborghini badge that makes life feel better."
Boston Motorsports, a Maserati dealer in Beantown, recently had about 80 exotic, lightly used cars, including Rolls-Royces, Porsches, Lamborghinis and Mercedes, on sale for thousands of dollars off. .
Rolls-Royce suffered its downfall despite moving into an eco-friendly era with its first fully electric car, the Specter.
The Ferrari dealer general manager said on a Reddit site dedicated to auto industry chatter that exotic cars, including Bentleys, are also in "bad shape" for sales.
Many foreign dream cars such as Aston Martin were 'overvalued' with 'artificially inflated' prices
"Some of these exotic cars aren't worth as much as they were a year ago," sales manager Holden Moore, a 15-year auto sales veteran, told DailyMail.com.
“There was a time when they were priced above MSRP, but that all changed. Interest rates were higher, gas prices were higher, and V8 exotics weren’t as popular as they used to be. , the market for exotic cars has changed.
'Dealers want to get them off so they don't get stuck.
"I wouldn't say the exotic car market has collapsed, but it's shrinking right now. The market has been very high over the last two years. But now it's slowing down.
“The experts predicted it, and now it's happening. The last two years have been unrealistic in terms of sales and very high prices, but now we're back to normal estimates and Yes, the market is returning to what it should have been in the last few years.'
A maniacal buyout of G-Wagen (short for Geländewagen, simply translated as 'off-road vehicle') and the current sale with extraordinary losses (up to $100,000) for some buyers and sellers It all started with a leaked Mercedes-Benz memo posted on Reddit in mid-August 2021.
The memo said the German automaker had canceled sales of the 2022 model year of the rich and famous's long-loved V8-powered SUV.
Demand for the existing G-Wagen V8 model quickly “went through the roof,” according to sources.
"The G-Wagens were selling for $20,000 to $100,000 more than the sticker price," he told DailyMail.com.
“The way people scooped them up was crazy. G-Wagens prices skyrocketed, well above MSRP.
Earlier this year, however, Mercedes had another shock. The automaker has decided to bring back a version of the G-Wagen V-8 model for 2022, presumably because supply chain issues have eased.
As a result, those who scooped up the G-Wagen at its greatly inflated prices began unloading at near losses.
According to one source, "Many dealers who own G-Wagens are so watered down that they're looking to write off tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars before it's all over. I have.”
Meanwhile, the Ferrari dealer general manager revealed some secrets about how the company operates on Reddit.
He noted that all Ferraris are sold at manufacturer's suggested retail prices, leaving little room for negotiation.
"The Monza SP2 sells for about $2 million, depending on options, while resale is about $3.5 million."
And potential Ferrari buyers typically have to wait two years for the car, with 80% of them funding the iconic supercar with Ferrari Financial. [to other credit agencies] So no one knows the car is your name. Other creditors cannot see the car on your credit report.
He then revealed that Ferrari maintains a list of people who are prohibited from purchasing.
“Ferrari banned a lot of rich people, even if they owned 30 Ferraris. It may or may not be there.
And he claimed that the two people on Ferrari's banned list were Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber.
"Bieber was rumored to modify his car and show it off.
Bieber also auctioned his car for $400,000 without asking permission from Ferrari.
"Ferrari didn't like it," says the general manager.