As the government imposes higher miles-per-gallon requirements on auto manufacturers, some are rightly starting to wonder who will pay for the higher costs associated with the technology and compliance? You and I will of course. Regulations increase costs. From Time:
USA Today — and the New York Post and other outlets — give NADA data stating that car prices will be boosted by $2,937 in order to meet 2025 mileage requirements, and that the cheapest new car would cost about $15,700. (The Nissan Versa sedan, which gets 36 m.p.g. on the highway with a manual transmission, holds the current title of Cheapest Car Sold in the U.S., with a starting price of $10,990.) Such a price increase would make a new car unaffordable for 4.2 million low-income Americans — college students, working families — who would no longer qualify for financing.
The NADA-commissioned study offers a range of price increases, though. In a worst-case scenario, new-car prices could be hiked by as much as $12,349, which would result in 14.9 million households not being able to afford a car.
