'Rich People Killed America's Affordable Cars'

[sop]

"Even if you're more than aware that new cars are super expensive, you may be shocked to learn that no automaker in the U.S. currently offers a new car for less than $20,000 anymore. Unless you get lucky and find some new old stock marked down below MSRP, the least-expensive new car you can buy is the Hyundai Venue, which, for the 2026 model year, costs $22,150 with destination. Yikes. It's one thing for cheap sedans to disappear, but we somehow lost cheap vehicles in general. But what happened? According to a recent deep dive from the New York Times, you can blame the rich."

"The author quite literally argues that the reason new cars are so expensive these days is because political decisions made since the 1970s brought us to a point where the highest earners have enough disposable income to keep buying those pricier cars, and automakers would rather cater to them instead of building cars with lower profit margins that someone making regular money could afford:"

"What happened? How did a basic necessity of American life become a luxury good? We have to start with a transformation of the economy itself beginning in the late 1970s. While hourly compensation for the typical worker remained nearly stagnant, massive stock market bull runs and rising home equity have enriched the most affluent households. Today, there are so many wealthy people who can afford luxury cars that it simply isn't that profitable for companies to produce cars for the bottom 40 percent of Americans by income."

Continued at link:

https://www.jalopnik.com/2147723/rich-people-killed-americas-affordable-cars/

[Drum]

1. Two days ago, in NYTimes: Where Did All the Affordable Cars Go? No paywall.

(The article is cited in the OP above)

Gift link:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/04/13/opinion/affordable-car-cost.html?unlocked_article_code=1.bVA.ohVt.xXmsPJEgYQky&smid=url-share

FOR GENERATIONS, working- and middle-class Americans could find an inexpensive, reliable set of wheels to get around. In the 1970s oil crisis, such modest models came to be known as “econoboxes” and surged in popularity, particularly among a large and vibrant middle class.

That era is over.

The average transaction price for a new car now sits around $50,000. In December, it became just about impossible to find one for less than $20,000.

A Honda Civic Hatchback? Most start at $28,000. The Touring Hybrid costs more than $32,000. How about the Chevy Trailblazer? On most lots, its price tag approaches $25,000. The Toyota Corolla? The Hybrid trims start around $26,000. Forget the Chevy Malibu; it was discontinued last year.

While politicians and economists scratch their heads at voters upset about affordability in a decent economy, they seem to somehow miss the fact that for most Americans the purchase of a car has become a debt sentence.


More at link....