New cars under $20,000? There won’t be any after 2025

• The $20,000 new car won’t exist as of 2025
• The discontinuation of the Nissan Versa, Kia Rio, and Mitsubishi Mirage mark the end of an era
• The Chevy Trax may be the best new car deal

The $1 coffee. The $5 footlong. A $10 bucket o’ beers. At the end of 2025, the $20,000 new car will be another deal of the past.

Automakers continued to cancel low-margin budget cars. Most recently, earlier in July, Nissan was reported to end production of the Versa early in 2025, according to Automotive News. That follows the planned end of the Mitsubishi Mirage sedan and hatchback some time in 2025, and Kia confirming last year that the Rio sedan and hatchback would halt production at the end of 2024. 

The longstanding benchmark for new car affordability succumbs less so to cooling inflationary pressure than to market trends favoring larger, more loaded, and more expensive new cars. The average transaction price (ATP)—total out-the-door price paid by car shoppers including destination fees and after incentives—has fallen the past two years from record highs that eclipsed $49,000 late in 2022. 

The ATP fell again in June to $44,857, which was a 3% decline from June 2023, according to J.D. Power. Now that the semiconductor shortage-infused madness that led to demand outstripping supply has returned the market to a new normal, and that new normal excludes cheap new cars. 

Nissan’s least expensive car?

Launched in 2008, the 2024 Nissan Versa subcompact car costs only $17,255, including destination (all prices listed here include destination). Upgrade from the 5-speed manual to the 122-hp inline-4 with a CVT and it’s still under $19,000. It comes with automatic emergency braking and lane-departure warnings, as well as power locks and windows and a 7.0-inch touchscreen with smartphone compatibility. It’s a good deal for basic transportation needs. 

The cheapest Nissan? It’s not the Nissan Sentra compact car that soldiers on, for now, for $22,320. The 2024 Nissan Kicks small crossover waits in the wings, costing $22,730. A redesigned 2025 Kicks is due in lots soon, at what we expect to be a higher price.

   

Kia’s least expensive car?

The Kia Rio isn’t even on Kia’s configurator, so it appears that what’s left in dealer lots is all we get. For about $17,500 the Rio also had a 120-hp inline-4 with a CVT and reasonably modern features, but it lacked safety features such as standard automatic emergency braking that came on nearly every other new car. 

The cheapest Kia is the quirky 2025 Kia Soul hatchback that costs $21,665. Then things get expensive, jumping at least $4,000 to the Seltos or Niro hatchbacks marketed as crossover SUVs. Seeing a pattern?

Mitsubishi’s least expensive car?

The Mitsubishi Mirage may be the last cheap car around, and it may be the worst. It shakes and rattles, its 78-hp 1.2-liter 3-cylinder gets you nowhere slow, and cabin materials are as basic as the computer programming language that shares a name. The 2024 Mirage hatchback or subcompact earned a TCC Rating of 3.8 out of 10, the lowest in our database of more than 260 new cars. (Read more about how we rate cars.) For just under $18,000, however, the 2024 Mirage hatchback comes with a great 5-year/60,000-mile warranty The G4 sedan is about $1,000 more.

The $25,000 Outlander Sport crossover SUV next year will represent as Mitsubishi’s least expensive car. That’s a big jump, but it’s also a big jump in modernity.  

What is the best cheap new car?

We don’t want them, or so automakers suggest. Yet, of the dozen or so new cars priced less than $25,000, there’s one that stands out so much it earned The Car Connection Best Economy Car To Buy 2024. It’s the Chevrolet Trax, now on sale as a 2025 model for just $21,495 in the base LS grade. Redesigned for 2024, the Trax grew longer, larger, and prettier, with a sophisticated interior and excellent infotainment and safety features. 

It’s not just us, either. Our shopping experience resulted in steep markups, and other anecdotal evidence suggests they’re flying off dealer lots. In the first half of 2024, Chevy sold more than 90,000 Trax in the U.S., after selling 109,000 in all of 2023, which was a near-record high for the nameplate. It’s a winner, and proves that there are still great new cars on sale for less than…$22,000.