New Cars: Why Did They Become Priceless?

The price of new cars increased by 25%, the mid-range from 28,000 to 35,000 euros. Manufacturers seem to have given up the middle-class market, now forced to turn to the occasion. Price increases, including on the lowest-cost models, the manufacturers justify them with an increase in the price of raw materials after the Covid. To consolidate their profitability, they have also stopped producing small cities. (Economy).

A study by the Mobility Institute in Transition with the firm C-Ways refutes the argument of the manufacturers: it is not the regulation that raises the price of cars, but their commercial choices.

And this is not a speculation: "The strategies of the manufacturers explain half of the record price increases (new cars) recorded in the car market since 2020", says Jean-Philippe Hermine and Clément Dupont-Roc, co-authors of the study. They detail: 8% of the increase comes from the increase in the voluntary range, 4% of the simple price increases. In comparison, the inflation related to raw materials and energy represents only 6%. Motor vehicl…

Car industry bosses criticize production costs and European regulations that force them to make more and more expensive vehicles. But a study shows that the situation is mainly explained by the choice of a perpetual upgrade.

A study by the Institute Mobility in Transition responds to the bosses of Renault and Stellantis: the rise in car prices is not due to environmental standards or to the switch to electric power. It is mainly the manufacturers themselves that have raised the bill. Why are new cars new?

People's mobility is changing: But how can this change be shaped? Barbara Laa, Vienna University of Technology, in an interview.