Cheap Car Sales Exploded in 2024

Maybe cheap cars aren’t dead in America after all. Sales of some of America’s most affordable vehicles saw huge increases across the board in 2024; The Nissan Versa, Kia K4 (formerly the Forte), Mitsubishi Mirage and many others.

Nissan has seen some of the greatest progress. The brand sold 152,659 Sentras and 42,589 Versas in 2024, representing increases of 39.8 and 71.7 percent respectively. Even in the midst of a transitional year, Nissan still sold 77,356 copies of the Kicks crossover, an increase of 15.8 percent.

Even with the Mirage gone, Mitsubishi sold a modest 29,766 examples of this small, economical car in 2024. That’s a whopping 125.2% increase. Sales of the Outlander Sport also increased only slightly from last year.

At Kia, the arrival of a new compact sedan is already bearing fruit. The automaker sold 139,778 examples of the K4 and Forte, an increase of 12.8% from the previous year. Sales of affordable SUVs have certainly been less successful for Kia, with the Soul, Seltos and Niro all down slightly compared to 2023.

The Trax was a hot commodity, with Chevrolet selling 200,689 examples of the subcompact crossover in 2024. This represents an 83.9% increase from the previous year. On the other hand, the Trailblazer was down 6.0 percent; Chevrolet only sold 104,398 in 2024.

Buick has made big moves with its Envista subcompact crossover, which starts at $24,795. The American automaker sold 51,316 examples of the Envista in 2024, representing an impressive increase of 285.8%. It’s worth noting, however, that 2024 was Envista’s first full year of sales; It didn’t hit the market until summer 2023.

Honda sold 151,468 copies of the HR-V in 2024 and 402,791 copies of the CR-V. These small SUVs grew by 23.9 and 11.4 percent, respectively. The Civic saw a jump of 20.8 percent, to 242,005 units.

Volkswagen has also had success with its small sedan, the Jetta. During an update year, sales of the four-door compact increased by 51.5 percent compared to the previous year. VW moved 71,829 Jettas in 2024. VW also moved 63,882 Taos, an increase of 8.5%.

Even Jeep, in a difficult year, saw sales of its least expensive SUV increase. The brand sold 111,697 copies of the Compass, which represents an increase of 16% compared to the previous year. The updated Compass starts at $27,495 for the 2025 model year.

On the compact truck side, the Ford Maverick increased 39.4 percent. Ford sold a whopping 131,142 examples of this small pickup in 2024. Its closest competitor, the Hyundai Santa Cruz, had a down year. Hyundai sold only 32,033 units of the Santa Cruz, a drop of 13 percent.

Of course, there have been some exceptions to all this commercial success. But in general, cheap cars had a huge 2024. Brands like Chevrolet, Honda and even Nissan have seen some of the biggest increases for their small cars, while others like Buick and Jeep have also seen success.