Are you buying ‘too much car’? Americans’ obsession with pricey options like touch screens is causing an affordability crisis

Are you buying ‘too much car’? Americans’ obsession with pricey options like touch screens is causing an affordability crisis


Premium car sales up 36% the last five years

‘Every new car is a luxury purchase’

Part of the problem is that more Americans want expensive SUVs and pickups with all the options, he added, which can cost as much as 40% more than the base price.

Over the last decade, luxury shoppers have proved again and again their willingness to spend more on high-end cars and the financing to go along with them.

Even the smallest upgrades have been met with soaring demand, Drury said, citing the extreme enthusiasm over the Honda Odyssey’s built-in vacuum option when it was first introduced in 2014.

Various packages, or trim levels, offer a range of features meant to appeal to different buyers, such as improved safety features, bigger engines or high-end finishes like leather seats and a better stereo.

Now everyone wants high-tech touch screens, ambient lighting, 360-degree cameras and heated and cooled seats, Drury said, which cost even more. “Less and less people want something basic.”

With the lucrative luxury segment in high demand, carmakers are upgrading their lineups and scaling back on less expensive cars.

“Base models, while enticing in theory, rarely hit the street,” Drury said. “Every new car is a luxury purchase at this point.”

“Who do you blame: The consumer that’s buying up these options, the dealers that are ordering these cars or automakers manufacturing fewer base models?” he said.

As more people are priced out of the new car market, automakers may start testing out cheaper alternatives, he said, although if there is a lot of consumer interest, it could drive up the price for those models, as well.

For now, the best way to get a base model vehicle is to order it directly through a dealer, Drury advised.

“There could be a perfectly good substitute at about half the cost,” he said.

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.



Source

Ford Motor is set to report earnings after the bell. Here’s what Wall Street expects
Business

Ford Motor is set to report earnings after the bell. Here’s what Wall Street expects

The Ford display is seen at the New York International Auto Show on April 16, 2025. Danielle DeVries | CNBC Ford Motor is set to report its second-quarter earnings after the markets close Wednesday as investors watch for any changes to its full-year guidance, which the automaker suspended in May due to President Donald Trump’s […]

Read More
DOJ drops charges against Fat Brands, chair Andy Wiederhorn
Business

DOJ drops charges against Fat Brands, chair Andy Wiederhorn

Andy Wiederhorn, former Fatburger CEO. CNBC The Justice Department is dropping its case against Fat Brands and its chair Andy Wiederhorn. In May 2024, the company and Wiederhorn were indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on charges of wire fraud, tax evasion and other counts related to what prosecutors alleged was a […]

Read More
Wall Street sees Starbucks comeback taking hold, even after another lackluster quarter
Business

Wall Street sees Starbucks comeback taking hold, even after another lackluster quarter

Customers enter a Starbucks coffee shop in New York, US, on Monday, July 28, 2025. Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images Wall Street is seeing early signs that Starbucks‘ turnaround is taking hold, despite a quarterly earnings miss and another quarter of shrinking same-store sales. “The focus for Starbucks’ third fiscal quarter was […]

Read More