--- title: This Is the Only New Car You Can Still Buy for Under $20,000 description: Now that Mitsubishi is discontinuing the Mirage, the Nissan Versa is the only new car with an MSRP under $20,000. It starts at $16,680. authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter at Money who frequently writes about news and trends related to car buying, auto insurance and gas prices. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 602 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2024-08-22T19:53:43.000Z' modified: '2024-08-22T19:53:43.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - cars - News word_count: 439 canonical: https://money.com/cheapest-new-car-nissan-versa-20000/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![A Nissan Versa with price tag stickers overlapping](https://img.money.com/2024/08/News-Only-20k-Car.jpg) The sub-$20,000 car is nearly extinct. [New cars](https://money.com/best-cars/) starting under $20,000 have all but disappeared following massive price increases over the past five years and a decline in the manufacturing of budget vehicles. There's only a single vehicle left under that price for the upcoming model year — and its days are numbered too. Mitsubishi recently confirmed the Mirage, which starts at $16,695, is being canceled and will not be included in the Japanese automaker’s 2025 lineup. The Mirage gave buyers “a way to get a new car under warranty for comparatively little money,” but it was loud and slow with the lowest horsepower engine of any gas-powered car, according to [Kelley Blue Book](https://www.kbb.com/car-news/mitsubishi-mirage-canceled-sub-20k-cars-almost-gone/). With the discontinuation of Mitsubishi's subcompact hatchback, there will only be one vehicle left that you can buy new for less than $20,000: the Nissan Versa, a subcompact sedan that starts at $16,680. And according to the trade publication [Automotive News](https://www.autonews.com/cars-concepts/why-nissan-pulling-back-sedans), the 2025 model year will be the Versa’s last before it is also discontinued. ## New or used, your car is an investment. Make sure it's protected! ### Get the coverage you need without breaking the bank. Click your state to get a free quote today. [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/gd49efb4d648?ap_referrer=%2Fcheapest-new-car-nissan-versa-20000%2F) ## Cheap cars are disappearing from the market In 2019, car shoppers had a range of options of cars with starting prices under $20,000, including still-popular models like the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Volkswagen Jetta. At that time, about 7% of new cars were sold for less than $20,000, but the share had dropped to just 0.5% as of February 2024, according to [Edmunds](https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/where-did-all-the-cheap-cars-go.html). The decline of the sub-$30,000 car has also been stark: Only 18% of new vehicles sold for less than that amount in February, down from 43% in 2019. Why? Vehicle parts and production costs have increased, for one thing. But automotive experts say the trends also relate to a shift from manufacturers toward producing more high-end cars. Lower-income customers are struggling to afford new vehicles with [auto loan rates](https://money.com/best-auto-loan-rates/) averaging nearly 10%, so automakers are catering to buyers with better credit who tend to want more bells and whistles. The average transaction price of a new car was $48,401 in July, an $11,000 increase from five years ago. Similar price trends have spilled over to the used vehicle market. According to a [new report](https://www.carscommerce.inc/insights-report/) from Car Commerce, the parent company of Cars.com, used cars under $20,000 have much more mileage than they used to. “Notably, used vehicles priced under $20,000 now carry an average of 93,000 odometer miles as of July 2024, up 33% in the last five years,” the report said. ## One of the best ways to pay less for Car Insurance is by comparing rates ### Click below to begin finding your rate today. [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/i86244fe9d5c?ap_referrer=%2Fcheapest-new-car-nissan-versa-20000%2F) ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/29780/medium_e439fd1c-3ee2-41b2-bccf-5dfe3c4d8add.png) Protect your vehicle with affordable Car Insurance. [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/b046d48341c1?ap_referrer=%2Fcheapest-new-car-nissan-versa-20000%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/cheapest-new-car-nissan-versa-20000/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "News", "item": "https://money.com/tag/news/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "This Is the Only New Car You Can Still Buy for Under $20,000" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/cheapest-new-car-nissan-versa-20000/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/cheapest-new-car-nissan-versa-20000/", "name": "This Is the Only New Car You Can Still Buy for Under $20,000", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-08-22T19:53:43.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/cheapest-new-car-nissan-versa-20000/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/cheapest-new-car-nissan-versa-20000/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-08-22T19:53:43.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "This Is the Only New Car You Can Still Buy for Under $20,000", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/08/News-Only-20k-Car.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Only-20k-Car" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Grieve", "url": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/#author", "description": "Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter at Money who frequently writes about news and trends related to car buying, auto insurance and gas prices.", "image": "https://img.money.com/2023/02/peter.png?w=350&h=430&crop=1", "email": "peter.grieve@money.com", "jobTitle": "Lead News Reporter", "alumniOf": "University of Chicago, BA Political Science", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/pete_grieve", "https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138", "https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4" ], "worksFor": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2024-08-22T19:53:43.000Z", "description": "Now that Mitsubishi is discontinuing the Mirage, the Nissan Versa is the only new car with an MSRP under $20,000. It starts at $16,680.", "abstract": "Now that Mitsubishi is discontinuing the Mirage, the Nissan Versa is the only new car with an MSRP under $20,000. It starts at $16,680.", "@id": "https://money.com/cheapest-new-car-nissan-versa-20000/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-08-22T19:53:43.000Z", "editor": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "wordCount": 439, "keywords": [ "cars", "News" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Personal finance", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_finance" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Vehicle", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle" ] } ] } ] } ```