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Comment by prmoustache | Hacker News Reader

From a purely economic point of view, buying a new car is always a bad idea, regardless of the drivetrain technology.

People who buy new cars don't do it for economic reasons, they do it so they can configure them exactly the way they want.

Even then, most individuals don't buy new cars. Most of the cars on the used market come from company cars, rentals, leasing...

Exception being those buying new cars, leaving them in storage for a decade or two, and then selling them at auction for 10x.

I'm curious how much you can get for a brand new 2005 Corolla. And don't forget to add storage costs.

They're not doing it with Corollas. They're doing it with Porsches and other sports cars.

Exactly what Tesla first did. Well, they a first did not have an existing ICE vehicle and based the styling off a Lotus Elise sports car.

They didn't based the styling only. They were using gliders[1] built by Lotus.

[1] chassis+body+suspension basically a car without powertrain and interior trim

Over a decade, that storage space will 10x more reliably than the car

Even then, it is rarely a good economic decision. Its hard to predict which cars will rise in value that much (unless you're spending $800K+ on some invite-only limited-run hypercar). The storage and insurance add up. It'll invariably need repairs after that time, which can cost a fortune on a limited run car. The opportunity cost will be investing that money in the stock market, which is much more likely to 10x your money.

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