The number of new cars that cost under $25,000 is dwindling, and automakers are continuing to drop their small affordable cars despite sales improvements. Nissan will discontinue its cheapest car and the cheapest new car in the United States, the Versa, for the 2025 model year despite a 64.2-percent sales increase so far compared to 2023. Mitsubishi still offers its subcompact Mirage with a starting price below $17,000 through the end of 2024, but the Mirage, too, will disappear in 2025. So far, though, the measly little Mirage’s sales numbers have increased by a massive 114.3 percent compared to this time last year.
Mitsubishi says this sales increase is due to an increase in Mirage availability, but considering the also significant growth of the Nissan Versa’s sales numbers, could it be that consumers are hungry for affordable new cars? Auto loans recently became the second-largest source of debt behind mortgages in the U.S., and the average price of a new car remains stratospheric at well over $47,000. So far in 2024, Mitsubishi has sold over 24,000 Mirages in the U.S., compared to just 9,344 by this time last year. Jalopnik reached out to a Mitsubishi representative to learn more about the company’s claim that this huge increase in sales is thanks to an increase in Mirage availability, but we have not received an answer at the time of posting.
While neither the Mitsubishi Mirage nor the Nissan Versa are particularly flashy, groundbreaking, or exciting vehicles, they offer what many folks across the country are increasingly prioritizing; affordable, reliable transportation with modern technology and safety features. When I speak with non-car people in my day-to-day life, most folks don’t really care what they drive so long as it has Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Mitsubishi’s next-cheapest car is the Outlander Sport, and it’s nearly $10,000 more expensive than the outgoing Mirage with a base price of $25,190 after destination charges. Nissan’s Kicks is more affordable at $21,980, but that’s still more than $5,000 more than the Versa.
Come 2025, the only new subcompact cars on sale in the U.S. will be the Mini Cooper Hardtop and the Fiat 500e. We’ve lost the Kia Rio, Hyundai Accent, Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit, Ford Fiesta, and Chevrolet Spark, and we’re losing the Versa and Mirage in 2025. It looks like the time of the cheap subcompact car is coming to an end despite increased consumer demand. Subcompact crossovers will remain, but their base prices are thousands higher than the subcompact cars they replace.
