QOTD: What's Next for Cheap Cars?
There are fewer cheap new cars on the market than ever, it seems, and the picture looks worse with the death of the Mitsubishi Mirage.
These are usually not good cars -- I drove a rented Nissan Versa to upstate New York and back last summer and was quite happy to give the keys back -- but some people can only afford cheap cars. Otherwise, they'd be shut out of the new-car market completely -- and used cars aren't always a good option.
So, what say you, B and B? Is there an opportunity here for OEMs to re-enter this segment? Maybe with crossovers instead of cars? Or is the cheap car dead, at least for a while, because of market forces?
Sound off below.
[Image: Mitsubishi]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Of my current personal vehicles, newest is a 2005. I have started noticing several vehicles of the same make and model as mine roaming around close to home. Ultimate Backup Plan might be to barter for a couple of those, thus yielding 1 daily driver plus 2 parts cars. 😉
Say this plan gets us to ~2030. At that point shouldn't be too hard to follow the 'pick a vehicle and electrify it' plan. If only I owned a voltmeter...
I bought a so-called "cheap" car new in 2012, it still serves me well today. Not all of them are terrible. As of now though, I'm priced out of the market. I can't even afford a "cheap" car. Of course it doesn't help I want an electric and they are even more unaffordable at this point.
People in my hometown are learning a valuable lesson about relying on public transportation. School bus service is now only available to ESL students, learning-challenged students, and a few very wealthy neighborhoods. The working class is an enemy to the state that will be destroyed. Cheap new cars are practically obsolete today.
I've always owned decent cheap cars, bought used (Toyota, Honda, Scion, one (ugh) Mirage, and a Pontiac (not missed) and a Chevy (my 1st car in 1982 a 1978 Cameron Z-28. Those Camaros from 1976 to, well, 1991? Were muscle cars in name and cheap decal only. They were TERRIBLE cars, heavy, underpowered (172 hp), had terrible brakes, poor handling, very poor fit/finish, practically n o safety features except seat belts and aged terribly with all the plastic fading and cracking. But I was 16 and an idiot. So I loved my Z-28, but wish I'd known better). How'd I end up here? Oh, cheap cars. I'm still driving my 2005 Scion xB, bought in 2013 with 50k miles, and now at 220k. Hoping for another 80k before the big breakdown happens.