I’ve railed at the cost of new cars for quite some time. Unfortunately, I have to admit, they don’t make them like they used to do and that is a good thing.
Aside from costs for material and labor, the major increase in costs for vehicles is the forced equipment inclusion and the environment and fuel requirements IMO. Thirty years ago when cars probably averaged around 15K, there were few airbags, multiport fuel injection, turbos and the like along with back up cameras, night vision, lane alerts, paddle shifters, plus a host of entertainment equipment.
The average new car price today is in line with historical averages given median incomes. A new car average at 50% of median income is not high historically. The les-than-40% car price versus median income from the ‘70s to the ‘90s was low by historic standards.
Entry-level new cars today have features that would have been luxury or unavailable when new cars were at their relative cheapest. Not to mention improvement in acceleration and mpg.