[(The High Cost Of Low-Priced Cars - CleanTechnica)
The average price of a new car this year is $48,205, up 21 percent from five years ago, according to Cox Automotive. Auto loan rates averaged 7.1 percent on new cars and 11.2 percent on used cars in September, 2024, up from 5.7 percent and 8.4 percent five years ago.
The dollar remains constant due what Steve203 has espoused.
Here’s the nub of the problem, according to Bloomberg . Automakers are not sufficiently motivated to solve the affordability crisis because they’re making more money selling fewer cars to richer buyers. Even though Americans are traveling by automobile more than ever, the market for new cars is shrinking. Cox predicts Americans will buy 15.7 million new cars and trucks this year, more than a million fewer vehicles annually than were sold before the pandemic, when US auto sales topped 17 million for five years through 2019.
Vehicles priced under $20,000 — the models young America once drove — have basically disappeared
It’s a tough time to be buying a new or used car. Automakers don’t build many entry-level cars, so sticker prices are rising into the stratosphere. High interest rates only add to the pain. The family car is a distant memory for many. And yet, the companies are protected from competition from Chinese-made cars that could cost substantially less than the average new car in the US. The companies get tariff protection and bailouts if they guess wrong. Most consumers get bupkes . There is little likelihood that situation will change any time soon.