People say this, and I wish they could get one if they want it, but the sales figures don’t back it up. People buying new cars weren’t buying the base trims with no frills. The XLT outsells the XL on the F150, the EX-L outsells the LX on the CR-V. Even the Versa, which used to be the cheapest car, they started making fewer S trims because people didn’t buy them.
That's because people with less money aren't buying new cars. Because new cars are unaffordable. If they were affordable, then more regular folks would be buying them and they would be buying the base models too.
And because of what dealers tend to stock on the lot. That was a problem with manual transmission trucks actually. The dealers point to a low percentage wanting them, but a low percentage wanting them was because they didn’t wanna wait. Two fucking months. many years ago I waited that two months. I got one of the best trucks ever built. they had to bring it in from out of state and there was a wasp nest in the fender well when they gave it to me, lol
When OPEC did their first oil embargo back in the 1970s, everybody wanted great gas mileage. Well, the only manufacturers making great gas mileage cars at the time were offshore, primarily Japan. Manufacturers ramped up production but nothing near enough to meet demand. You couldn't order a car, just had to shop from whatever came in.
Sooooo, in order to make more money off fewer cars, dealers gut-stuffed every import with every option they could.
And Detroit started making The Crappiest Cars Ever. They rusted away because thin metal is lighter. Aluminum engines. Electric windows became the norm because crank assemblies are heavier. Most car shows don't have many 1973 to around 1990 models. They were weak bodied and mechanically undependable. We drove late 60s early 70s GM models until the early 2000s. Dependable, gas was 99 cents a gallon, could pick 'em up for a couple hundred dollars. Junkyards were full of 'em, so parts were never a bother.
Naw the affordability is wrapped into the monthly payment, we have 96 month car loans as standard now, that's 8 years. If sales drop they'll adjust financing out to 120 months I guarentee we'll see that in the next year or two.
History is in the past. You're going by conditions pre-inflation, and more importantly pre cash-for-clunkers, which elimated the ~500 POS you could drive around for a year or five until it exploded or the wheels fell off, and drastically inflated the prices of actually-nice used vehicles.
Then you've got the fact that people just have less real buying power now than they have for most of that time, too.
I do not think that the assumptions you (and the American car industry) are operating under necessarily hold nowadays.
Why isn't Tata Motors falling over themselves to bring their cars to the US then, since you think they would sell so well?
Hint: because idiots just look at the monthly payment. Stretch the financing out far enough for a luxury tank to be the same monthly payment as a $10,000 Tata and they'll take the tank.
In the top 10 are Camry, Corollas, and Nissan Rogues (which baffles me). I'd bet Hyundai's are right behind too.
I think they sell fine. The problem is the profit margins are much higher for bigger and more expensive vehicles. Its kinda the same with homes. For houses it's much more expensive to build two houses on a half acre lot than it is to just build one big house and sell it for a lot more. I imagine the same thing applies to cars thus car makers are incentivized to do it - not the least of which is to comply with eco standards.
Lol what? That's literally because they stopped making affordable trims/models.
Look at the Mitsubishi mirage or Hyundai Accent for example. Both had decent sales numbers and MSRPs well under $20k.
Mitsubishi was selling around 20k-30k mirages every year. And the msrp wasn't over $15k until 2023. But that's the issue, they weren't making record braking profits off that low MSRP so they stopped making it.
Cars like that have very little margin so they have to be sold in large volumes to be worth it. People did not buy them in large volumes in the United States.
$20k for a Hyundai Venue. Adjusted for inflation that's comparable to past prices for cheap new cars. A lot better than older cars anyways, 100k miles used to be end of life. Now it's basically 200k miles.
You think these companies that spend hundreds of millions of dollars on market research and analysis just haven't thought about that? They don't make them because people don't buy them. People on a tight budget always choose a more loaded used car over a bare bones new car
There have been many start-up companies like Elio Motors that have tried to bring a low-cost, high-efficiency car to market. They can't get funding and numbers. There have also been various low-cost cars that have come to the US, like that little Smart Car; you barely see any. If there were enough people who wanted this, you would think at least one car company would make a smash-hit small cheap car to cater to that market.
It's also worth mentioning that lots of the electronics in cars can make the car cheaper overall; for instance, rear-view cameras and other anti-collision systems mean fewer accidents and cheaper insurance. A single accident can easily wipe out any savings you have in a cheaper car.
Yeah I'd rather lose money on my 5000 used car than a brand new 30,000 car.
Depreciation is still about 20% in the first year, and nearly 50% by year 5 of owning a new car. Also assuming most aren't buying outright and then your also paying interest on a loan.
So my used 5000 car might depreciate to 2000 in 2 years. That is still way better than going from 30,000 to 24,000 in 1 year and then to 15,000 in 5.
Ehhh those figures are including outliers, like luxury cars, that do tend to depreciate like rocks, which I why I added the qualifier "average" in my reply.
If depreciation is all you care about then yeah, go for a $5k used car but if you care about total cost of ownership, that probably isn't the best move.
If you're spending $5k on a car, it's probably because that's your absolute limit and not because it's the best financial move.
My 21 Honda Civic I bought new for $23k is worth $18k today 5 years later. I also bought a better trim that included adaptive cruise control and remote start since I needed that in Wisconsin winters
No it’s not. I bought my Honda civic SI and it’s worth exactly what it was 2 years ago. It’s a basic economy car with a sought after performance trim and a manual transmission. You just have to research what you are buying and actually know car culture.
AE86, s13 240sx, s14 240sx, 350z, 370z, fuck basically Toyotas entire lineup, 6th gen Honda civic si, 8th gen civic si, 9th gen civic si, all older generations of prelude and integra, Acura RSX, TSX, TL. This is just 3 brands so far…
Most people dont buy cars as an investment, so the value going down isnt the same as spending money on repairs. One is a number going down in some person's colored book and the other is money out of someone's pocket
Yeah everyone’s just acting like Americans aren’t consumeristic as fuck lmao. We want the bells and whistles, I’d rather buy an older car with all the features than a new car without any
People with “less” money aren’t buying new because they can’t get a loan due to D to I. If they could get a decent loan, they’d certainly buy new, but with a 8-10% rate… even those with money wouldn’t buy new. I’m at 1.6% on my 2025 SUV. My payments are just under $400/month. Many need to stop buying unnecessary things and saving up instead of ordering out all the time and taking vacations to expensive hotspots and going to overpriced events. I pay double my monthly payment and will have my new vehicle paid off within another 1 1/2 years easy. Then that’s extra money I can save toward my next new vehicle or to use to pay down my mortgage faster. Gotta have a plan!!
Woo hoo! Funny how car companies, with staff of marketers, cant figure this stuff out but regular redditors can. Oh, silly me, they already know it, and just don’t care.
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u/freetotebag 9h ago
People say this, and I wish they could get one if they want it, but the sales figures don’t back it up. People buying new cars weren’t buying the base trims with no frills. The XLT outsells the XL on the F150, the EX-L outsells the LX on the CR-V. Even the Versa, which used to be the cheapest car, they started making fewer S trims because people didn’t buy them.