Are New Car Prices Dropping? Here’s What We Know – SlashGear

It may not be immediately obvious why a price correction of less than 2% might constitute good news for the motoring public. The TL;DR is that not all cars are created equal.

Even prior to the pandemic, the overall ATP of new car purchases was trending up. The consensus of experts – including Slashgear – has been that, while cars are getting more expensive, there’s a meaningful difference between the average transaction and the transaction by the average customer.

In simple terms, many new cars are luxury items. Almost 20% of the car marketplace is considered “luxury” by the people who keep track of these things. Taking an average that includes the galactically overpriced absurdities at the top of the automotive market ignores the fact that no one in shouting distance of “average” is shopping for a Hennessey-branded, 1000 horsepower Ford pickup or a 3D-printed Rolls Royce.

As such, while the overall ATP of a new car is $48,763, the ATP of a non-luxury car is $44,697. Both numbers have been trending down since January. Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, GMC, Hyundai, Mazda, Subaru, and Volkswagen all reported decreasing ATPs in the first few months of 2023. Even electric car prices are sinking.

In short, car fans may finally be seeing a very welcome market correction. For the past few months at least, new car prices have begun trending toward affordable.