With new lease rates in place ahead of Memorial Day, it’s currently cheaper to lease a Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Ioniq 6 than a Tesla Model 3, reports CarsDirect.
According to a Hyundai national dealer bulletin cited by CarsDirect, the 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 SE is now available to lease at $429 a month for 36 months with $3,999 due at signing. That’s based on a $46,835 MSRP, which applies to the long-range version of the Ioniq 5 SE that’s EPA-rated at 303 miles, with 10,000 miles allowed per year. It’s a $70 cut from the previous monthly payment, according to CarsDirect.
The 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 SE gets the same lease terms as the Ioniq 5, also representing a $70 decrease in the monthly payment. Both reduced lease rates are due to a $7,500 incentive Hyundai is offering on leases for these models. It’s likely an attempt by the automaker to exploit the Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit loophole, which allows automakers with captive finance companies to claim a $7,500 tax credit and pass the savings on to customers—even when vehicles wouldn’t qualify for the federal EV tax credit otherwise.
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5
So while the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 are not eligible for the actual federal EV tax credit under new rules instituted under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), this incentive allows lessees to save the same amount. And while the effective cost of these leases is still fairly high—$540 a month, CarsDirect estimates—it still undercuts the Model 3.
At the time of publication, Tesla’s website showed the cheapest Model 3 lease at $399 a month for 36 months with $5,594 due at signing. That works out to $554 a month, or $14 more than the two Hyundai models. They were previously $56 more expensive per month than this Model 3 lease, CarsDirect noted.
2023 Tesla Model 3
Other unexpected lease deals have resulted from the tax credit leasing loophole, such as how the Toyota Prius Prime and its higher sticker price may cost less than the Prius hybrid to lease.
The lease deals of the period before coronavirus shutdowns and before the EV demand bubble, which saw EV leases as low as $79 a month, simply aren’t coming back—although there have been a few exceptions, like when the Chevy Bolt EV was given a price cut and it served as a way to clear out 2021 models.
