In 2025, Canada’s cheap car market is in peril. Previously bursting with models priced less than $25,000, this market is dwindling quickly under the economic strains, increased materials costs, and an onslaught of worldwide tariffs on vehicles. The lowest-cost vehicles are experiencing across-the-board price increases, spurred by supply chain inefficiencies, higher labour expenses, and diminishing demand for subcompacts. Tariff uncertainty, particularly about U.S. trade policy, also drives up the cost of imported cars. As manufacturers focus on SUVs and electrified models, cheap sedans and hatchbacks are eliminated. These are 20 affordable cars now, but may not be for long:
Nissan Versa
The Nissan Versa has become one of Canada’s cheapest new vehicles, costing an average of $20,000. It has a 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine, producing 122 horsepower and good fuel economy for city drivers. It has safety features such as lane departure warning, emergency braking, and an easy-to-use infotainment system. For all its budget stance, the Versa is becoming less cheap. Its price has increased this year, and outside economic factors such as increasing tariffs on vehicles made in Mexico are contributing to the cost. With the supply chain costs and inflationary forces on parts, the Versa’s cheap price pinch is under threat. It is one of the few remaining subcompact sedans still on the market, but it might not hold on to its price advantage for long.
Mitsubishi Mirage
The Mitsubishi Mirage is a compact hatchback with excellent fuel efficiency and a low price tag starting at about $17,000. Its 1.2-litre engine and compact size make it perfect for city driving and budget commuting. It’s one of the few cars continuously remaining under $20,000, with satisfactory warranty protection and standard amenities. Sadly, the Mirage’s time within the Canadian marketplace is short. Mitsubishi has introduced plans to halt model production by late 2024, as demand for the car plummets, as well as due to the issue of profitability. As small automobiles become less acceptable for producers, prices on what’s left of the inventory will increase. The disappearance of the Mirage highlights the dwindling diversity in the budget car segment and foretells leaner times for value-conscious motorists.
Kia Rio
The Kia Rio used to be a top pick for motorists looking for a low-cost, efficient, and stylish subcompact car priced at about $17,500. It is available in sedan and hatchback forms and provides functional performance, straightforward interiors, and solid fuel efficiency. But, similar to most of its subcompact competitors, the Rio has been discontinued in Canada. Its last model year was 2023, fueled by changing consumer preferences for SUVs and crossovers. With no model to take its place, any leftover units will experience rising prices as inventories run low. This market withdrawal reduces Canadian consumers’ options for new, lower-cost cars and is part of a larger industry pattern where smaller car manufacturing is no longer deemed cost-effective.
Hyundai Venue
The Hyundai Venue provides a subcompact SUV experience in an urban-sized package with a price tag of about $21,000. It features a collection of security features, infotainment technologies, and a contemporary style that attracts first-time car purchasers. The Venue is an excellent value, with a compact footprint and SUV-like versatility. Nevertheless, this model is not spared from price hikes. Hyundai has made a price hike due to increasing production costs, currency shifts, and rising demand for raw materials. The entire model lineup, including the Venue, is feeling these economic factors. With fewer affordable SUVs, even modest price increases can significantly impact consumers looking for affordable options. The Venue’s affordability may soon be a thing of the past.
Chevrolet Trax
The Chevrolet Trax has been redesigned for 2025, with a new sleek appearance, more interior room, and cutting-edge features, all while keeping a reasonable starting price of about $27,000. It is turbocharged and features wireless smartphone integration and safety assist systems. As much as it attempts to remain cheap, Chevrolet has increased the base price slightly on all trims. These small increases result from increased labor costs, material availability, and the introduction of more advanced technology. As competition in the budget-friendly SUV segment evaporates, the value proposition of the Trax will be threatened by economic forces that drive budget cars to become more costly to produce and sell.
Kia Soul
Kia Soul is still strong on its quirky design, boxy shape, and unexpectedly spacious interior. It is popular among a broad audience with both affordability and functionality packed inside a compact SUV. It boasts a powerful engine, touchscreen interface, and basic driver-aid features, making it a credible player in the sub-$30,000 space. Yet, the market’s shift towards electrification and bigger vehicles has impacted the Soul’s future costs. Though its EV model has been phased out, increasing costs in production, materials, and international shipping logistics are spurring price hikes on still-available gasoline models. With fewer options in this segment, the Kia Soul might join others in exiting the budget category, pushed out by changing market conditions and consumer demand.
Hyundai Elantra
The Hyundai Elantra has been popular with Canadian purchasers for years owing to its low-key styling, roomy interior, and value pricing that begins at about $21,000. Its entry-level engine provides well-rounded performance and sound fuel economy, and its technical amenities, such as a touchscreen system and driver’s assistance features, are standard. It also introduces improved styling and greater safety features with the 2025 model. However, its affordability is in jeopardy due to many global influences. The price of imported auto parts is increasing, and trade tariffs will further affect models produced outside North America. On top of that, inflation and higher transport expenses are driving retail prices higher.
Toyota Corolla
The Toyota Corolla is a standard for reliability, price, and fuel economy in the compact segment. Available in several trims with hybrid and all-wheel-drive options at prices that begin from $23,000, it offers a balanced driving experience with safety and tech features as standard. The 2025 Corolla follows suit, but the cost is incrementally rising. Including hybrid technology and higher-end infotainment systems has contributed to the cost of production. In addition, worldwide supply problems and raw material inflation are adding to year-over-year price increases. As Toyota invests more in electrification, entry-level models such as the Corolla are being fitted with features that, although useful, drive them out of the price range of budget shoppers.
Honda Civic
The Honda Civic is still one of Canada’s best-selling compact vehicles, praised for its quality, fuel efficiency, and durability, with affordable prices at about $27,000. The 2025 model introduces hybrid trims with improved fuel economy and added performance, broadening its appeal to eco-conscious drivers. The Civic also features refined interiors, comprehensive driver aids, and user-friendly infotainment. However, with these upgrades come higher costs. The new hybrid versions are priced significantly above the base model, and even entry trims have seen a noticeable price bump. A combination of rising labour costs, semiconductor shortages, and worldwide demand for hybrids is propelling the Civic up the price scale.
Mazda3
The Mazda3 provides a premium feel in a compact hatchback or sedan, with its premium styling, sophisticated driving dynamics, and high-quality interiors distinguishing it from competitors. The 2025 model features a robust Skyactiv-G engine, improved driver-assistance features, and advanced technology updates. Though priced below most compact luxury vehicles at about $25,000, the Mazda3 has gradually increased. These increases are fueled by increased prices for advanced safety technologies, global inflation, and investment in more advanced engineering. Although it continues to offer substantial value for money, its starting price is inching closer to entry-level crossovers.
Volkswagen Jetta
The Volkswagen Jetta offers European styling, responsive handling, and a refined interior that appeals to Canadian drivers looking for value in the compact sedan segment, with prices that begin at about $25,700. It boasts a turbo 1.5-litre powerplant, decent gas mileage, tech features like Apple CarPlay, and a digital gauge cluster on pricier versions. But affordability is disappearing. It’s gotten gradually more expensive through increases in manufacturing costs, pricey electronics, and stringent emissions control regulations. Volkswagen’s move to electrify its vehicle portfolio is pulling investments away from the Jetta, a traditional gas-burning sedan. With fewer trims and more standard amenities padding the base price, the Jetta is slowly becoming unaffordable for many frugal Canadian buyers.
Subaru Impreza
The Subaru Impreza is still a standout option in the compact car segment because it comes with standard all-wheel drive, an unusual and desirable feature at price points that start at $27,000. It also has a 2.0-litre powerplant, solid crash-test grades, and well-ordered, practical cabin layouts, perfect for Canadian conditions and commuters alike. The newer remake prioritized safety and connectivity features, yet it added these extra features at an added price hike. Since it has fewer bare-bones, lower-priced trim offerings, and considering international inflation coupled with higher shipping rates, the Impreza is moving farther out of its once-affordable arena. Subaru’s investment in hybrid technologies suggests greater future expense, possibly pricing out those looking for an affordable, all-weather-capable vehicle.
Nissan Sentra
The Nissan Sentra combines aggressive styling, roomy interior design, and good standard tech, such as blind spot monitoring and Apple CarPlay, at a price of about $23,000 that has long appealed to frugal Canadians. Its 2.0-litre engine is economical and responsive, and the cabin provides comfort and quiet beyond its price. But inflation, increasing labor expense, and increased demand for crossovers are driving up the Sentra’s price sticker. The automakers are also eliminating trims and making fewer base models available, and higher tariffs and logistics costs are also being charged to consumers. Although still a utilitarian subcompact, the Sentra’s price advantage is eroding, and subsequent model years will bring even more substantial price increases.
Kia Forte
The Kia Forte has become known as a feature-loaded compact sedan at a price below much of the competition, starting at $21,000. It has a good fuel economy, an attractive exterior design, and advanced safety technology like forward collision warning and lane keeping assistance. Yet increasing costs for materials and manufacturing are incrementally diminishing its cost-saving advantage. Similar to other Kia models, the Forte is experiencing price increases because of the addition of more standard equipment and the expense of regulatory compliance, specifically emissions and safety. Uncertainty over tariffs and the overall decline of small cars result in lower trims eventually being discontinued, leaving higher versions as the sole choice for Canadian consumers.
Toyota Yaris
The Toyota Yaris, a fixture among Canada’s cheapest cars, has slipped quietly out of the new car inventory in recent years. With its frugal fuel consumption, tiny size, and low maintenance expenses, the Yaris was perfect for city commuters and students. Its low price of about $17,000, however, may be unable to keep up with shifting consumer tastes and stricter emissions standards. Rising production expenses and Toyota’s strategy to consolidate its offerings led to the Yaris’s discontinuation. While some used models remain accessible, the new car market has moved past this once-reliable choice.
Chevrolet Malibu
The Chevrolet Malibu is one of the last midsize sedans offered by a domestic automaker in Canada. Praised for its spacious cabin, comfortable ride, and available turbocharged engine, the Malibu offers a mix of comfort and power at prices that begin at $29,700. Its affordability is quickly dwindling as Chevrolet has reduced the number of low-cost trims, and the existing models are now loaded with technology that drives the base price higher. Moreover, rising labor expenses, supply chain problems, and sedan slump are making it increasingly challenging for GM to price the Malibu competitively.
Hyundai Accent
The Hyundai Accent has been a long-time favourite among Canadian budget buyers due to its reliability, excellent fuel economy, and unexpectedly premium features for its price point. The Accent was a gem for under $20,000 in sedan and hatchback configurations. Its last year of availability in Canada came in 2022. Increased production costs, decreased profit margins, and dwindling consumer interest in smaller sedans contributed to its discontinuation. Although inventory may still be found at dealerships, prices have climbed as supply dwindles. Hyundai’s shift toward crossovers and electric vehicles signals that budget-focused subcompacts like the Accent will unlikely return to the market shortly.
Ford Maverick
The Ford Maverick revolutionized the small pickup market by offering a hybrid powertrain and a sub-$35,000 starting price. Canadians embraced its combination of utility, fuel efficiency, and affordability. It accommodates five, drives like a crossover, and features an unusually inclusive slate of standard equipment. Yet demand has outstripped supply by a wide margin, driving costs up at the factory and dealership levels. Ford also raised the starting price on new models in response to inflation, material shortages, and manufacturing bottlenecks. With fewer hybrid trucks competing in the same price band and more urban buyers showing interest, the Maverick’s value proposition will be short-lived.
Nissan Kicks
Nissan Kicks provides the subcompact SUV experience with robust fuel economy, sleek design, and contemporary features at a relatively lower price tag that starts at $27,200. A 1.6-litre engine powers it, has ample cargo room, and a range of driver assist features, such as automatic emergency braking and rear cross-traffic alert. Yet even the Kicks is seeing upward price pressure. Rising electronic component costs, increased freight rates, and currency volatility send higher costs to consumers. Nissan’s wider strategic move to electrification also sends investment away from gas-powered models.
Honda Fit
The Honda Fit was loved for its “magic seat” flexibility, tiny footprint, and great fuel economy, making it a bestseller for Canadian urban commuters. With plenty of room on the inside for such a small car and well-established reliability, the Fit was frequently the most practical choice for budget-conscious buyers, as prices begin at about $16,400. However, production for the North American market ceased in 2020, primarily because of shifting consumer tastes and Honda’s emphasis on more profitable crossovers. Even prices on used Fits have increased because they are in short supply. The Fit’s loss is yet another setback for the affordable car sector, as automakers depart from subcompacts.
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