Even if you ignore the slant of this article, the data should cause concern wrt “affordability”. Average new car price up 30% since 2019, monthly finance payment nearly doubled since 2019. Automakers are saying, publicly, they have no intention of increasing supply in the market. Financing terms have already escalated to 84 months. When asked about 'affordability", auto company execs channel Marie Antoinette and say “let them buy used”.
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They’re heading towards the subscription model, where customers perpetually rent cars and pay extra for feature upgrades. Eventually, we’ll have to watch an ad before we can drive.
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Thanks for the laugh!
Watch two adds, drive 5-10 minutes, watch another add… repeat. LOLOLOL
ralph
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I think anyone with an average ability in math can detect that these two statements don’t prove anything. You would need to know the range of prices for new cars to make the conclusion in the headline.
Maybe the headline is meant for Montana math students
Mike
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It could be that we are slowly turning into Europe (and similar to most of the rest of the world). You buy smaller cars, you buy them less often, and if you finance them, on average at most a half or two thirds of the price is financed, the rest has to be in cash.
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I spent some time in Italy, France, and Germany and cars are very expensive there so people really do buy smaller cars and keep them for a long time. Also gas is very expensive so they get small engines. I was told that in Italy, cars with over a 2 liter engine pay an extra 30 percent in tax on the purchase. They say that’s why turbochargers on a 1.99 liter engine is popular.