It’s a deal Samir Manohar, a sales representative at Tynan’s Nissan in Aurora, knows sounds too good to be true.
Since June, the dealership has offered a 24-month lease on an entry-level Nissan Leaf for only $19 per month once a Colorado resident pays roughly $2,400 in sales taxes and dealer fees. After that, the monthly cost of a new electric car is — no joke — less than the price of renting a golf cart or subscribing to some streaming services.
“It’s insane, and it truly is the best offer I’ve ever seen for a new car,” Manohar said.
The EV lease deal went viral online after a YouTube channel featured the special in early July, kicking off a wave of coverage on auto blogs and TikTok accounts. 184 customers have since taken advantage of the offer even though the qualifying model only boasts a relatively low 149-mile range and an outdated fast-charging plug. Another 117 are waiting for more cars to arrive at the lot.
All the online buzz highlights a trend made possible by Colorado’s nation-leading EV incentives. By enabling car dealers to structure bargains around publicly-funded discounts, a wave of cheap lease deals on battery-powered cars has popped up across the state.
The deal offered by Tynan’s Nissan is just the most eye-popping example of a sales strategy aimed at wooing drivers nervous about ditching their gas-powered cars. And while the current lease offer technically expires at the end of July, the sales team expects Nissan will likely allow the dealership to extend it into August.
How the dealership is offering such a cheap lease
At Tynan’s Nissan, the main discount behind the latest Leaf offer is Colorado’s innovative motor vehicle tax credit, which is good for $5,000 off any plug-in EV and an extra $2,500 if a model’s recommended sales price is less than $35,000. Dealers can throw in an extra $600 if they take care of all the paperwork rather than leaving it to the buyer.
That means a low-cost electric car like the Nissan Leaf S purchased in Colorado is eligible for $8,100 in discounts.
Manohar says leasing maximizes the power of the already hefty discount. To set the monthly price, a car manufacturer estimates the total value of the car after the end of the lease term, which is known as the residual. A leasing company or a dealership then portions out the remainder over the length of the lease, and the state discount applies to that amount, not the full value of the vehicle.
“That is definitely a contributing factor to why you can get such inexpensive leases,” said Matthew Groves, the CEO of the Colorado Auto Dealers Association. “The flexibility is something that does not exist in other states, and that has largely been a product of our cooperation between the industry and the government.”
A related factor is Colorado’s higher-than-average demand for plug-in EVs, which Groves says now competes with Washington for the second-highest EV market share after California. In response, carmakers and dealers have pumped cars into the state, increasing supply and cutting vehicle costs.
One final reason is leases don't require drivers to commit to a new, rapidly evolving technology. Groves says dealers like Tynan’s Nissan have realized that’s a winning marketing strategy to attract EV-curious car buyers. “At $20 a month, it's not that expensive to be wrong,” Groves said.
That logic is what drew Josh Berry to test drive a Nissan Leaf at Tynan’s Nissan on a recent afternoon. As he whipped around corners, he said the lease offered an appealing chance to try out an EV and see if it worked with his lifestyle as the owner of a residential agency serving adults with special needs.
“In two years, I can decide if I want to drive something bigger, faster or crazier,” Berry said.
Cheap leases might help the state meet its climate goals
It appears the trend could also be helping Colorado resist a trend of sagging EV demand around the country.
In the second quarter of 2024, registrations of full-battery-powered vehicles rebounded to 16 percent of all vehicles after a slight dip in the beginning of the year, according to a report from the Colorado Auto Dealers Association. Over the first half of 2024, the total market share for battery-powered vehicles in the first half of 2024 is up nearly 5 percent from a year earlier.
Continued growth is critical if Colorado has any hope of reaching its goal to put 940,000 EVs on the road by 2030. The target is one piece of the state’s approach to cleaning up the climate cost of its transportation sector, which is the largest source of the state’s largest source of planet-warming emissions and the main reason it’s off track to meet its upcoming climate goals.
Dominique Gómez, the deputy director of the Colorado Energy Office, said Colorado is on track to meet the EV target, largely due to its plethora of EV discounts. Besides the statewide tax credit, the state offers a $6,000 discount for income-qualified EV buyers willing to part with an older or high-emitting vehicle. Both can be combined with additional rebates from Xcel Energy, Colorado’s largest electricity provider.
Manohar, the salesman at Tynan’s Nissan, the lease deal is drawing in residents who don’t fit the traditional mold of wealthy EV drivers. By his estimate, one half want an extra cheap car for errands around town, and the other half is hoping to cut the cost of a commute.
“It was a luxury to have an electric car several years ago. Due to these credits, it has now brought in a wide variety of different types of people, different walks of life, different incomes,” Manohar said.
