# American cars used to be affordable. What happened?

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/think-from-kera-875208/american-cars-used-to-be-affordable-what-happened.md
Podcast: [Think from KERA](https://stenobird.com/podcast/think-from-kera-875208)
Published: 2026-05-06T17:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://play.prx.org/listen?ge=prx_140_a9d769b2-60fe-4095-ad12-254c8ca3c66e&uf=https%3A%2F%2Fpublicfeeds.net%2Ff%2F140%2Ffeed-rss.xml
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/tracking.swap.fm/track/sblTq32fyWAjsHzze2LG/dovetail.prxu.org/_/140/a9d769b2-60fe-4095-ad12-254c8ca3c66e/standard.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/think-from-kera-875208/episodes/american-cars-used-to-be-affordable-what-happened
Duration seconds: 2763

## Resource

The average new car in America costs $50,000, but how many people can actually afford one? Clifford Winston is an economist who specializes in transportation and microeconomic policy. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss where the low-priced cars have gone, how all the new bells and whistles are squeezing those on a budget, and why even repair bills are now sky high. His article for The New York Times is “ The Death of the Basic American Car .” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

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