The days of walking onto a dealership lot and finding a brand new car under $20,000 are nearly over. Despite the market seemingly drying up for these affordable cars anymore, Mitsubishi’s Mirage shows there’s still demand. Mirage sales were up over 100 percent right as the model got the axe.
Before we get to the Mirage, we have to look at the Mitsubishi brand as a whole. Mitsubishi actually saw sales gains of 25 percent in 2024 bolstered by increases on all five of the brand’s models. The biggest increase was the Mirage. Mitsubishi moved 29,766 Mirages in 2024, a massive 125 percent increase over 2023 when 13,219 were sold.
What could have driven that kind of sales boom? A combination of the Mirage’s discontinuation and a market that wants cheaper cars. Both the Mirage hatch and Mirage G4 sedan start under $20,000, something you can’t really find anymore. Both being discontinued means dealers are trying to get rid of their remaining stock, which means huge discounts: Palm Beach Mitsubishi in Florida has $5,500 discounts on each of the Mirages in it’s inventory, which means you can pick up a new one for about $12,000-$13,000.
This impressive sales increase won’t save the Mirage. Mitsubishi initially announced the Japanese market Mirage was getting killed off in 2023, with some saying that it was the beginning of the end of Mitsubishi in the sedan business. Just over a year later, the brand confirmed that 2024 would be the last model year for the U.S. market Mirage.
If you’re in the market for a new car under $20,000, your choices are sparse. Mitsubishi says there should be enough Mirage dealer stock left to last until summer 2025. The only other choice for buyers in the segment is the Nissan Versa which starts at $18,330 including destination (and it comes with a standard manual transmission!) The Versa is in the same position as the Mirage: sources have been saying that the Versa - and Altima - might get the axe after the 2025 model year. This is in spite of a 71 percent sales increase for the Versa in 2024.
While these cars didn’t sell hundreds of thousands a year, these sales increases should be enough to show automakers that there is still a market for cheap transportation. And when I say cheap transportation, I don’t mean a small crossover with a standard 7-inch touchscreen for $24,000.
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