Sticker shock: Car prices top $50K for first time in US, Kelley Blue Book says

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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sticker-shock-car-prices-top-50k-for-first-time-in-us-kelley-blue-book-says-142036091.html

Sticker shock: Car prices top $50K for first time in US, Kelley Blue Book says
Tariffs and pricier vehicles catering to wealthier buyers are driving the new-vehicle market higher.
Pras Subramanian · Senior Reporter
Tue, October 14, 2025 at 9:20 AM CDT

With car prices chugging higher in the US, it was only a matter of time before window stickers crossed the $50,000 mark.

According to Kelley Blue Book (KBB), the average transaction price of a new vehicle in the US topped $50,000 for the first time, reaching a record high of $50,080. KBB, which is part of Cox Automotive, said prices were up a hefty 2.1% sequentially from August and up 3.6% year over year. The 3.6% jump in September was the largest gain in over two years.

"We've been expecting to break through the $50,000 barrier. It was only a matter of time, especially when you consider the best-selling vehicle in America is a pickup truck from Ford that routinely costs north of $65,000," Cox Automotive executive analyst Erin Keating said in the report.

Keating said wealthier households drive the current auto market for new cars because those buyers have access to capital, along with attractive loan rates that prop up the higher end of the market.

Meanwhile, the $20,000 market for cars is "extinct," Keating said, with lower-income and price-conscious buyers perusing the used market.

The most recent CPI data from August confirms what KBB observed in September. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that new vehicle prices rose 0.3% in August and were up 0.7% year over year. Even the used vehicle market saw prices inflate, up 1% in the month and 6% year over year.

Due to the government shutdown, the September CPI report has been delayed.

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And the tyrant keeps raising his tariffs