If you’re shopping for a new car, truck, or SUV, we’ve got some bad news for you. New data shows that the average marketed price for a new vehicle has broken a record set three years ago to be the highest ever. A new vehicle is now $2,421 more than it was a year ago and $314 higher than just a month ago.
Prices Punched Through A Record And Kept Going
Car dealer lotKoons Automotiv/Unsplash
Data from the Automotive News/Catalyst IQ Vehicle Price and Inventory Tracker showed the average new vehicle marketed price hit $51,820 on June 26. That put it ahead of the old record, set in July 2023, by $1. Less than a week later, the number had climbed to $51,974, 4.9% higher than a year ago.
The impact on prices has been the highest on the cheapest vehicles. Compact sedans have climbed by 12%, or $2,689, since the first half of 2025, according to the report. Some models are impacted harder than others no matter the segment. The highest increase was for the Kia Telluride. Marketed prices for that popular three-row SUV were up 16.4% from a year ago, while the brand new and hard to find Toyota RAV4 was up 15.7%.
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Much like housing, buying a new car has never cost Americans more.
If you want to find bargains, though not necessarily affordability, there are still some segments where you can find them. Convertible prices are down 9.8% and minivans are down 3.2%. Full-size and extra-large luxury SUVs are also down.
Despite Higher Prices, Cars Are Moving Faster
Car dealer lotActon Crawford/Unsplash
Despite higher prices, vehicles are moving more quickly, the report said. The data indicated that days-to-move, the length of time a vehicle sits on a dealer lot, has fallen. So buyers are paying those big new prices. Admittedly, they’re financing them, with longer and longer terms becoming the norm.
Catalyst IQ’s data tracks 133 vehicle models and how much dealers are asking for their inventory. That can paint a clearer picture of the market than average transaction price, which accounts for customer negotiation skills and add-on extras, and the MSRP average, which doesn’t always show incentives.
It showed that 99 vehicles saw their advertised prices go up over the last year, while 34 saw prices fall. Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 EV had the biggest drop, down 17% to compensate after the end of federal EV incentives. The Jeep Wrangler and Subaru Forester were also notable, each with a drop of more than 4%.
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Rick Wainschel, vice president of analytics at Catalyst IQ, suggested that buyers are no longer bothered by the high prices. “Pricing has been so high for so long, but it’s just a little higher than it was,” said Wainschel. “So I think consumers are kind of used to it.”
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
money dollarMichael Noel / Pexels
The price of cars is increasing more quickly than inflation, even with inflation (sorry) inflated by high fuel prices over the last few months. It is also far outpacing wages. This car cost impact is worst in the lower-priced part of the market, where affordability is the most key. That will likely get worse over the next few years as automakers kill their lowest-cost vehicles because falling profits and high tariffs mean they’re no longer economical. At least gas prices are falling, with the national average down 40 cents from a month ago.
Source: Automotive News
