Every year another headline says EVs depreciate faster than gas cars. Tesla gets singled out the hardest. The explanation floating around is usually "battery degradation" or "EV buyers are early adopters who move on fast." Both miss the actual mechanism. The real driver is simpler and far less flattering to gas trucks: sticker price direction determines whether depreciation is hidden or visible — and gas MSRPs have been quietly climbing while EV MSRPs have been falling.
Toyota Tacoma SR5 starting price, 2022–2026:
| Year | Starting Price |
|---|---|
| 2022 | $28,490 |
| 2023 | $29,540 |
| 2024 | $36,200 |
| 2025 | $36,220 |
| 2026 | $36,335 |
That's a 21% increase in four years for what is functionally the same truck. Nobody calls this "negative depreciation," but that's exactly what it is. When new-car MSRP rises, every used unit of that same car becomes relatively more valuable just by comparison — a 2022 Tacoma sitting on a used lot now looks like a bargain next to a $36,335 new one, even though nothing about the used truck changed. The truck isn't holding value because it's a great truck. It's holding value because Toyota keeps raising the bar it's being compared against. This is depreciation working in reverse, and because it shows up as "wow, used Tacomas hold their value," almost nobody clocks it as a price increase at all.
Now the Model Y, same window:
| Year | Starting Price |
|---|---|
| 2022 | $59,990 |
| 2023 | $42,990 |
| 2024 | $42,990 |
| 2025 | $39,990 |
| 2026 | $39,990 |
Base price down roughly 33% from the 2022 peak, and depending on which 2022 trim you compare against, buyers who paid up to $65,990 mid-year are looking at a car that now starts $26,000 lower. Unlike the Tacoma, this isn't hidden anywhere. When new MSRP drops, every used unit of that car gets marked down to match, immediately and visibly. A 2022 Model Y doesn't get to coast on "it's the same car as the new one" — the new one is dramatically cheaper, so the used one has to be cheaper still. This is the same depreciation mechanism as the Tacoma, just running in the direction that actually produces a number people notice and complain about.
Strip away the brand loyalty and the culture-war framing, and both trucks and Teslas depreciate for the same reason: used car value is anchored to new car price. Gas trucks look like they "hold value" because their MSRPs have gone up almost every year since 2022, dragging used values up right along with them. EVs look like they "crater" because Tesla (and the segment generally, chasing tax credits and competition) has been cutting sticker prices to stay competitive, and used values fall to match.
None of this means the Model Y is a worse product than the Tacoma, or that Tesla is in trouble, or that gas trucks are somehow more durable investments. It means the depreciation curve you see on a CarMax listing is telling you almost nothing about the vehicle and almost everything about where the manufacturer decided to set this year's price. A Tacoma buyer isn't avoiding depreciation. They're just buying into a segment where the manufacturer's pricing strategy hides it. A Model Y buyer isn't uniquely exposed to depreciation. They're buying into a segment where falling production costs and margin competition get passed to new buyers first — and the visible price on the used one is just catching up.
If you actually want to compare depreciation fairly, don't look at resale value. Look at total cost of ownership relative to what the vehicle would cost you new, today, at today's price — which is the same math that already shows the Model 3 beating the Camry and the Cybertruck beating the F-150 on cost per mile. Sticker price trajectory is a marketing artifact. Cost per mile is the number that actually tells you what you're paying to drive.