$16,130. That’s the smallest price any new car will carry in the 2024 model year unless something unexpected happens.
That figure will get you a 2024 Nissan Versa with modern safety technologies like automatic emergency braking (forward and reverse) and lane-departure warning. It will get you 122 horsepower – not a massive figure in the 2024 model year, but 46 more than you’ll get in a Mitsubishi Mirage, which starts at $16,695.
The Nissan
7201,
Versa gets no changes for the new model year. But that alone is a minor miracle. Automakers have been trimming their least-expensive models from their lineups in recent years.
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Automakers have been focusing on more expensive cars as rising interest rates have priced many lower-income buyers out of the car market. In December 2017, automakers produced 36 models priced at $25,000 or less. Five years later, they built just 10.
For 2024, only the Versa, the Mirage, the Kia Rio, and the Kia Soul are confirmed to appear under the $20,000 line, and mandatory freight charges will push most of those slightly over it. We’re still awaiting final pricing on the 2024 Hyundai Venue, which might fit under that bar.
But truly inexpensive, subcompact cars like the Versa are endangered.
The Chevy Spark, America’s least-expensive new car for several years, left the market in 2022. Later, reports emerged that Mitsubishi
7211,
would soon cancel the Mirage, though that report remains unconfirmed. Kia
000270,
however, has confirmed the impending death of the Rio.
Also see: Used cars for less than $20,000 have ‘nearly vanished,’ study says
This story originally ran on KBB.com.
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