‘Few options that are cheap’: why are there no affordable cars in the US?

theguardian.com:

T he latest full-sized all-electric pickup truck from Detroit’s big three, is the 2025 Ram 1500 REV – burly on the outside, plush on the inside and with enough power on tap to tow 14,000lbs or light your home in a blackout. Formally introduced at last month’s New York International Auto Show, the REV is the no-compromise electric vehicle for the red meat-hungry American who would not be caught dead biting into a Beyond Burger. But it will cost you $58,000 to start. More than theaverage yearly wage in many US states.

At the top end, the REV will cost you $100,000 – money that could buy a three-bedroom house in Milwaukee or Cleveland. And there’s every reason to believe the trend will continue as automakers unveil more new products at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this fall.

The days of the big city auto show luring in potential buyers with high-priced dream machines to sell them reasonably priced cars are gone. Now reasonable options are priced high enough to make wallets groan.

According to the latest data from the car consumer guide Edmunds, the average transaction price for a new vehicle was $47,713; that’s a third more than what Americans paid five years ago. “We’ve come to this where you look out there in the field, and there are so few options that are even cheap,” says Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds executive director who analyzes the habits and transactions of car consumers. “Just talking with my team in the genesis of our research, I was like, ‘Can you even buy anything new for $20,000?’”

At the New York show, on the Jacob Javits Center floor, the pickings were sprawled out, slim and largely confined to the subcompact class. The Corolla, Toyota’s entry-level four door, can still be had at that