Car affordability in 2022 and beyond

Try this link (you can do the same for all the vehicles in the article by doing just a little investigation work yourself)
Build & Price a Nissan Versa | Nissan USA

( I don't intend to provide a link for each vehicle)

 

Then why not build and order it - an individual here recently did that with a new Bolt.

If you demand a car right now, a certain color, with certain options expect to pay through the nose and then some if you can find it. That is not the current situation we live in.

However if you want a car under $20,000 with the features you want at a great price be prepared to have reasonable expectations that match reality.

In 2004 with a growing family and a need for a minivan I purchased a new 2004 Sienna. Since I was a Toyota employee, they fell over themselves to please-right - except not quite. I had to wait almost a year to get the new van built and delivered (problems with the plastic gas tanks in the first-year models)

Let's fast forward to 2008

In 2008 I wanted a new white 2008 Prius. Even being an employee of Toyota I had to wait almost 8 months to get the vehicle I wanted after making a deposit and having it built and I felt I was one of the lucky ones able to get a new Prius.

If you want a specific vehicle, then be willing to be reasonable and use the process to get it.

If you need a car right now -won't budge on your demands- then be prepared to be raked over the coals and make a number of compromises - paying more than you want being one of them.

Aren't many things in life like that?
If you don't take care of your teeth, don't have a dentist and all of a sudden need emergency dental work - good luck with that.
If you take care of your teeth, have regular checkups and doing a checkup they notice a potential problem and schedule you to have it corrected - you will have a much more pleasing experience

Instead of an individual tilting at windmills why not go the direction the wind is blowing and work with it doing the process to achieve the desired end results.

Bottom line - there are more than a couple of vehicles that can be had for under $20,000 that will give a satisfying experience.

Can you pass wind , rub your nose and walk down the street to buy one - maybe not, you will have to go through a process in that situation. A used vehicle may better fit your expectations. Another alernative would be to rent or lease until you find the exact vehicle for your needs.

 

Selling cars is a business. You supply what the customer wants - when they want it- to be successful.

I am familiar with how Toyota manufactured vehicles.

A manifest was created for every vehicle manufactured. A Dealer had requested every Camry we built - Color- options-powertrain etc.
The Dealer request were generated based on their particular customer base requirements.
The newly built vehicles were then shipped out to the requesting Dealers to fill their orders.
The Dealers were ordering the inventory their Customer base wanted.

If a Customer wanted a particular model - no big deal - the Dealer could order, or the Customer could order through the Dealer website.

The Nissan Versa base model is an excellent example. The $15,500 model is a manual transmission. What Dealer in his right mind would order a band new $15,500 car with a manual transmission. What is the likelihood of an entitled American Car Buyer walking into a car showroom and demanding a manual transmission? The Dealership may be stuck with this vehicle forever just trying to find a modern-day customer who could drive it.

On the other hand, this is an affordable, efficient vehicle that a guy like me might enjoy and especially enjoy shifting gears. In that case I can walk into the Dealer and order it for myself- I get the car I want at the price I want, and the Dealer doesn't have to worry about getting stuck with a re-herring car that no one will buy.

Dealers want to sell cars - Dealers order cars they can sell that meet Customer needs- if not that Customer is going to high tail it to the Dealer who will meet his needs.

American entitled Customers do not want base model cars - they will go over their heads in car payments and buy more vehicle than they will ever need because they 'deserve it'. Car makers have to cater to this.

Auto Loans Piling Up With More Buyers $10,000 Underwater - Bloomberg

America's consumer-debt stress is mounting - mortgage rates top 7%, credit-card liabilities hit $1 trillion, and now auto-loan defaults are on the rise (yahoo.com)

 

It was 100% with me, clear up until I bought my first Prius.

 

Then you have to find a dealer willing to honor the MSRP, and wait for that dealer to get such a car allotted to them, or trade with another dealership.

Those willing to put in such effort could find a cheap, base trim car for MSRP. A few years ago, those people could get the car for a notable amount under MSRP. The average sold car price reported earlier wasn't excluding these sales. If these trims were more available, it would be reflected in the figure. Cars.com lists 223 base trim Versas, with the CVT, for the US. For the Prius prime, there is 318. There are thousands of Sentras, but limit price to $20k, and it drops to 6.

And where is the Yaris? If a buyer can wait for the cheap car, fine. But not every buyer can wait, and the manufacturers have been discontinuing their cheap models. Reducing the number of such available on the market, leaving more buyers per car.

Uses a different source for transaction price, so we get three for under $20k.
Only a few cars in America are selling for less than $20,000 - Autoblog

 

Think back to the 70's and 80's when gas prices soared and Consumers demands included small cars that were efficient - the Big 3 had their clocks cleaned by the Japanese imports.

Car companies do not drive the market or establish demands - the Customer does.

American Customer preferences are what is driving the American Market trends and car availability.
If there are no small base cars on the lots it is because American Customers are not demanding them.

Customers drive the market. Example: Tesla found and capitalized on an initial niche market for electric vehicles. They are now experiencing a measure of success for filling this Customer need. Tesla did not create the need for electric vehicles- world conditions and the Customer demand did and Tesla is ahead of the curve in fulfilling this particular current Customer need.

If the American Consumer begins demanding small efficient gas vehicles like the Yaris you can bet your a_ _ some manufacturer is going to fill this need.

A Car Manufacturer will quickly go out of business if they do not cater to what the Customer wants.

Another example - Ford says their customers do not want sedan vehicles and they will only produce trucks and suv's.

The American Car Consumer is not a victim - they establish trends, design preference, color selection, price point, efficiency and may other item by their spending on Automotive products. Market efficiency will remove companies that don't meet Customer demand.

Their willingness to incur incredible debt to satisfy their preferences shows what they want!
America's consumer-debt stress is mounting - mortgage rates top 7%, credit-card liabilities hit $1 trillion, and now auto-loan defaults are on the rise (yahoo.com)

For those of us who are not part of this trend car selection and research to find the product that fits us is challenging but achievable.

 

There is also other influences, like gas prices, that influence car buyer choice. Part of the market shift to SUVs was because of improved fuel economy. They could do better with a new sedan, but now they can have the SUV without increasing the fuel budget.

The American car consumer is not just the individuals buying the cars. Most Americans buy a car that is on the dealer lot. That makes dealers a major force in directing the demand the manufacturers see. You mention them not stocking manual transmissions for fear of such units not selling. Well, that selection of 'safe' features extend to others, like neutral paint colors and interiors. Why stock the base trim of the low cost model that only frugal shoppers are looking for? Since the final car buyer can't put a direct order into the manufacturer, this leaves most at the mercy of whatever the dealer felt like carrying.

 

I agree 100% except for the bold I added.
I have never been told that I can order exactly what I want at a dealer. I did just that a year and a half ago for my new MINI.
I would agree most consumers may not know this, or even that some dealers my discourage this. But it is definitely something the can do.

That being said, this is another reason I love the direct order process.

• No dealer,
• no mark-ups,
• no dealer installed options,
• no ‘let me check with my manager’,
• no bargaining trying to get the best deal,
• No ‘sure we have that, when can you come in (because I won’t give you info unless you do)’

This may be the deciding factor for me between a Tesla Model 3 and a Hyundai Ioniq 6.

 

I would agree with you and think that this is the future of car buying.

Many manufacturers now encourage the car ordering process and some like Ford have implied this may eventually be the only way to buy some of their electric models. It is rare to visit a Car Manufacturers site that doesn't have a vehicle build function with varying degrees of Dealership interaction.

During the Pandemic some Manufactures threatened disciplining Dealers for marking up vehicles. In some cases Car Manufacturers seem to be as disillusioned with the traditional way of buying car - just like their consumers.

I wonder if traditional Dealers as middlemen between the Customer and the Auto Maker will eventually disappear.
Hasn't Tesla eliminated this in their purchase process?

My impression is that Ford is through playing around with their Dealerships.

No More Markups? Ford Will Make Dealers Agree To No-Haggle Pricing (thedrive.com)

Ford Threatens to Cut Dealer Inventories to Demolish Price Markups (motorbiscuit.com)

 

Technically, Tesla didn’t “eliminate” it as they never used that business model
It is one of the big reasons I like Tesla.
Ford made some big statements, but then rolled over when dealers called their bluff.

Dealers became a cartel, and have accumulated more political clout than manufacturers. There is not a lot FORD can do. And the dealers have managed to outlaw any other business model, in a number of states.

Hmmm, apologies, I went way down the rabbit hole.

 

The Kia Rio may be headed out too, at least in Europe. IF that also happens in the USA, that would leave the Nissan Versa as the only sub $20,000 MSRP car in the USA.

I could get a Bolt for $14,000 here in Colorado if all the car stars aligned. But since I won't be owing even half the federal tax credit the Bolt is priced out of my affordability range.

I just hope my Avalon lasts past this part. If I needed a car tomorrow I'd be up a creek without a paddle.

 

That did happen. A setback for a time, that the Big 3 did not take lying down. They eventually mounted a robust response.

By using experts from car design to add small cars that were efficient? Not so much. By using experts from Madison Avenue to run PR and ad campaigns to make an American feel unmanly without an F150 to haul his briefcase to the office.

The Customer drives the market ... and that's one of the ways the manufacturers arrange for the Customer to drive them where they'd like to be driven. (In that particular case, to a category of vehicle subject to more lax economy and emissions standards so they could build it more profitably.)

 

I wouldn't call having to put an order in through a dealer direct order. When dealers do take an order, it feels more like they put in the customer preferences into the system, and then it is a wait until they happen to get a matching car allocated to them. You putting in an order for a manual transmission Versa doesn't mean Nissan will make it unless they were already planning to.

They are trying to change that with their EV models. The manufacturers are trying to put in place a buying model that appears like Tesla's, but they are constrained by state laws and dealer associations. If they are successful in doing so, it likely won't extend to the affordable ICE models they make.

 

Ya, sadly the buying experience was bad when there were cheaper cars. Now it's just bad and cars are expensive.

I mean, I wonder if I could just order, hassle free, a base model manual transmission Nissan Versa for MSRP. I have a feeling that I would not be able to.

I've been looking around at Chevy Bolts to see if any are close to base MSRP... Um, that's pretty much not happening. I've heard of people getting the full federal tax credit through the loophole of leasing then buying. So far my research leads me to believe that this is impossible, at least with the Chevy Bolt.

 

Good luck with using that philosophy on people who aren't victims and won't be put in that role.
I owned a 2008 Prius for 12 years and now own a PHEV - I take/took both these vehicles on fishing and hunting trips while getting great mileage. They have hauled guns/fishing equipment as well as harvested fish and wild game. I enjoy these activities as well as getting over 50 mpg and 30 miles on electric range. I couldn't really give a hoot in hell what someone on Maidson Avenue thinks I should drive. Don't really care what someone else might think of my manhood.


QUOTE="Trollbait, post: 3380246, member: 12239"]I wouldn't call having to put an order in through a dealer direct order. When dealers do take an order, it feels more like they put in the customer preferences into the system, and then it is a wait until they happen to get a matching car allocated to them. You putting in an order for a manual transmission Versa doesn't mean Nissan will make it unless they were already planning to.

They are trying to change that with their EV models. The manufacturers are trying to put in place a buying model that appears like Tesla's, but they are constrained by state laws and dealer associations. If they are successful in doing so, it likely won't extend to the affordable ICE models they make.[/QUOTE]


Our area didn't have a PHEV like we wanted and didn't want to carry electric vehicles of any sort and refused to order the PHEV for me.
Okay - so what - I won't be a victim - I went online and used Edmonds New Car Buying Service and they located a similar car to what we wanted in another area - which I made a bid on and bought - all online. This was done through Edmonds service with myself and the Dealer playing by Edmonds rules.

Don't use the Dealer if you aren't satisfied with them - do not play the victim.
Use one of the many car buying services or go through a broker- bypass the Dealer.

In my opinion this thread is now drifting into fictional territory where people play victims and complain about their issues.
Car makers want to make money
Car Makers who satisfy the most customers make the most money.

If you don't have a lot of money get your expectations in line with your lifestyle or change your lifestyle to be able to match your expectations.

It is no one's responsibility but your own to get the car you want - you need to make the choice - put forth the effort and make it happen.


Blaming Manufacturers, Madison Avenue Marketers, the economy, loan sharks, the phase of the moon or whatever is not going to move someone closer to their goal.

I would like to buy a new car every year! This doesn't match my pocketbook or lifestyle though. We will get a new vehicle every 12 to 15 years if things work out, because this is what we can afford and what matches our lifestyle.

 

I don't need the luck, I'm not the one using that philosophy on anybody. The manufacturers are, and they're spending sums of money I could never match to do it, and given that the stuff doesn't grow on trees, they wouldn't keep spending it that way if their bean counters weren't showing pretty good luck with it.

 

I’ve ordered a car with the exact options I wanted twice through dealers.
First with my Saturn SL2 shortly after college. Second with my MINI Cooper SE.
I suspect some dealers will simply not allow that option and will juggle inventory with other nearby dealers so they can sell you a car today.

Or, order online directly from the manufacturer.
There is a reason auto dealers compete with congress as the least trustworthy profession.