re: New cars, once part of the American dream, now out of reach for many

The bigger issue which many aren’t bringing up is the wage gap the last 3 years. As everything went up including new and used cars, wage have not kept up with inflation. This is a double whammy as new car prices go up due to supply, rising unrest rates and stagnant wages. That same car you were looking at in 2019 is suddenly $15k-$20k more expensive for the exact same model.