Two years ago we managed to produce a buying guide for cars under €10,000. Admittedly, it only listed four models, much less than just three years earlier, but the offering was there, with cars that could meet the needs of a small family. Now it’s over. Subject to galloping inflation, car prices are becoming less and less affordable. On the one hand, the shortage of semiconductors prevents brands from supplying enough cars to meet demand. So manufacturers take the opportunity to further raise prices already inflated by electrification systems designed to lower CO emissions.2or by driving aids that make it possible to shine in the Euro NCAP crash test.
Two years ago we listed four models under €10,000. The Suzuki Celerio has since left the market. His compatriot Mitsubishi Space Star was also part of this closed circle, but thanks to a deficit: a permanent discount given by the manufacturer to lower the price below this symbolic threshold. Today, the website for the three-diamond brand still shows a call price of €9,290, but this is no longer automatic. Admittedly, the €13,890 of the cheapest Space Star is always discounted, but it is necessary to be eligible for the €3,000 government-paid conversion bonus to reach this figure. In other words, you have to scrap a pre-2011 diesel or pre-2006 petrol to hope to sign a check with only four figures to leave behind the wheel of the little Japanese car.
Two years ago we managed to produce a buying guide for cars under €10,000. Admittedly, it only listed four models, much less than just three years earlier, but the offering was there, with cars that could meet the needs of a small family. Now it’s over.
Subject to galloping inflation, car prices are becoming less and less affordable. Semiconductor shortages prevent brands from supplying enough cars to meet demand. So manufacturers take the opportunity to further raise prices already inflated by electrification systems designed to lower CO emissions.2or by driving aids that make it possible to shine in the Euro NCAP crash test.
Two years ago we therefore listed four models below the €10,000 mark. The Suzuki Celerio has since left the market. His compatriot Mitsubishi Space Star was also part of this closed circle, but thanks to a deficit: a permanent discount given by the manufacturer to lower the price below this symbolic threshold. Today, the website for the three-diamond brand still shows a call price of €9,290, but this is no longer automatic.
Admittedly, the cheapest Space Star is always discounted to €13,890, but it is necessary to be eligible for a €3,000 conversion bonus, paid for by the government, to reach this figure. In other words, you have to scrap a pre-2011 diesel or pre-2006 petrol to hope to sign a check with only four figures to leave behind the wheel of the little Japanese car.
Mitsubishi Space Star
In 2020, Fiat also offered its Panda at €9,990 before discount. But since then, this city car has developed technically. Its well-proven four-cylinder Four has given way to an all-new three-cylinder with a mild hybridization. What mechanically raises the price.
Now the Fiat Panda trades for a minimum of €12,590. And if Fiat dares to announce an entry-level for €9,590, it is also there the hope that the customer has an old car to be scrapped to trigger the payment of the conversion bonus of €3,000 by the government.
Galloping inflation at Dacia
If there is a brand that has always been able to exhibit low prices without giving in to the temptation of commercial discounts, it is Dacia. The excellent price/performance ratio of their models has enabled Renault’s Romanian subsidiary to lift its Sandero to the top of private car sales. In 2005, the brand shook up the market by launching its Logan with a base price of €7,500.
Launched two years ago, the latest generation Sandero still managed to keep its base price of €8,690. A look at the summer course 2022 reveals that prices have risen more in the last two years than in the first fifteen years of Dacia’s existence: today the cheapest Sandero is shown at €10,990.
Recently, the Sandero, like the other Dacias, has a new logo, which gives more presence to the front. Is this a pretext to increase prices further? Because inflation has already galloped in recent months: the Sandero went to €8,890 in September 2021. It was in January last year that the Sandero took a big leap forward in price, suddenly going to €9,990. Before you quickly take 800€ more, and another 200€ more at the beginning of the summer.
Low-income households turn even more to second-hand
The increases are all the more sensitive for the customer, as they do not result in enriched equipment. For a fully equipped Sandero with a 90 hp engine, it cost just under €14,000 at launch in autumn 2020. The same car is now billed at €15,950. A price that is not so far from a Renault Clio a few years ago… But at the same time, the city car with the diamond has seen its prices rise in the same proportions. Sandero is definitely more expensive, but still the cheapest. Small consolation. Because the successive increases will end up making these cars inaccessible to the most modest households, who will again have to be content with sometimes old used models, as was the case before Dacia’s existence.
If the customer loses, the developer wins. Luca de Meo, CEO of Renault, admitted it a few weeks ago Dacia generated double-digit margins, enviable for such affordable models. However, this windfall in terms of profitability should not cut Dacia off from its customers.
For the Chinese manufacturers are in ambush, as shown by MG launching a petrol version of its ZS urban SUV, at a lower price than the Duster. Dacia is not immune to seeing a future MG3 land on the wheels of its Sandero for less than €10,000… At the moment the only cars under €10,000 are unlicensed models, starting with the Citroen Ami. But it has also seen its price rise: it now starts at €7,790, up from €6,900 at launch.