New cheap cars are incredibly popular this year, as prices creep ever higher.
We’re all tired of hearing the dreaded “I” word, but it’s certainly been responsible for pushing new car prices higher than they’ve ever been over the past few years. These days, the new floor for a “cheap” car seems to be around $25,000 — and that’s for your base models. Popular cars like the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Nissan Sentra easily crest the $30,000 and beyond once you start eyeing the better-equipped versions. Some cars on the more premium side, as today’s Mazda 3 aims to be, are pushing $40,000 at the top end, for a compact car.
Excuse me while I go take some heartburn medication.
Folks are clearly itching for the best deals they can, as the latest round of sales reports are out and they reveal explosive growth among smaller, more affordable models. Take the Nissan Versa shown above, for example. Despite (or perhaps even because) the Versa is not long for this world, year-to-date sales are up by a dizzying 64.2%. Same story for the defunct Mitsubishi Mirage, which is up 114.3% over this point in 2023. Honda boasts that it hit 1 million annual sales a month earlier this year, while Civic sales were up 28.3%. That’s second only to its entry-level HR-V crossover, which itself posted year-to-date gains of 31.9%, the highest percentage gain against all other Honda models.
These are the best-selling affordable cars of the year, so far
While a lot of focus has been toward high average transaction prices and the still-solid popularity of big and profitable SUVs, actual sales data, on the whole, seems to lean toward smaller and more affordable cars gaining ground. To that end, let’s take a look at the best-selling small and “cheap” cars around $25,000:
| Car | Starting MSRP | Year-to-date 2024 Sales | Change vs. 2023 (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Honda Civic | $25,345 | 188,422 | +28.3% |
| Toyota Corolla | $23,610 | 177,092 | +6.9% |
| Nissan Sentra | $22,730 | 123,732 | +38.9% |
| Kia Forte/K4 | $23,145 (K4) | 104,004 | +9.3% |
| Hyundai Elantra | $22,775 | 101,618 | -5% |
| Volkswagen Jetta | $23,220 | 52,911 | +73.1% |
| Kia Soul | $21,665 | 40,094 | -20% |
| Nissan Versa | $17,820 | 29,302 | +64.2% |
| Mazda 3 | $26,135 | 28,068 | +20.1% |
| Subaru Impreza | $24,115 | 23,073 | -15.1% |
| Mitsubishi Mirage | $17,840 | 20,024 | +114.3% |
Even though you could attribute the success of some small cars to fleet sales, we’re still talking about gains that outpace the rest of the market over the past nine months. The Volkswagen Jetta is a particular standout, with its sales momentum increasing by 73.1% so far this year, even with a facelifted model arriving at dealers by the end of this quarter. Typically, we’ll see model sales dip when a refresh or new version is imminent, since some will hold out for the new car to actually go on sale.
The Kia Forte also gained traction in the sales charts, likely driven by dealer incentives to clear inventory as the new K4 went on sale late in the summer.
Where are the Big Three here?
As Americans continue to grapple with inflation and higher costs of living, reports like these reveal one glaring omission: any U.S. automaker making the “affordable car” list. The story is a little bit different for small SUVs thanks to GM (we’ll cover that in another article), but thanks to all of the Big Three dropping cheaper options like the Ford Fiesta, Chevy Spark/Sonic or the Dodge Dart among several others, there just aren’t that many options at or near the $25,000 mark if you’re looking to fly the flag with your next purchase.
It doesn’t fall under the cheap “car” umbrella, but there is one notably affordable(ish) model to look at if you want to buy an American brand: the Ford Maverick. To say this tiny truck has been one of the Blue Oval’s biggest hits in recent years is an understatement, as dealers have shifted 108,996 examples this year alone — a whopping 64.1% improvement over 2023, and that was still a good year for the Maverick. Though Ford’s entry-level truck can get pricey at the upper end, the base XL Super Crew truck till comes in at $26,210, making it relatively affordable in the modern context. Even better, a hybrid option averaging more than 40 mpg is just $1,750 more.
As far as FCA is concerned, the least expensive offering on sale right now is technically the Jeep Compass, which starts at $27,495 for the 2025 model year. That’s not horrifically expensive, though we are talking about the base Sport model there. The Renegade is out, and more to the point Stellantis has no “cheap cars” (as far as sedans or hatches go) in the American market right now. The only cars it offers, period, are the all-electric Fiat 500, which starts at $34,095, and the Alfa Romeo Giulia, which starts at $45,990.
