The Cheapest Car In America Gets Slightly Less Affordable
If you're looking to get into a new car for less than $20,000 in the U.S., your options are dwindling. The Nissan Versa, a subcompact sedan that was the cheapest new car in America for the 2025 model year, was the last new car available for less than twenty grand. Note the use of past tense there—Nissan has dropped the entry-level Versa model, which cost $18,330 and was the only version of the Versa with a five-speed manual transmission.
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Now, the Versa overall isn't going away—yet—even though it's the last subcompact sedan available in America. (You might still find a new Mitsubishi Mirage G4 on a dealer lot somewhere, but that sedan stopped being built after the 2024 model year, leaving the Versa alone in its segment.) Nissan is keeping the entry-level Versa S sedan around, but only with the automatic transmission that added $1,800 to the MSRP, meaning the Versa now starts at $21,130. It remains by far the most affordable thing that isn't an SUV in 2025—the next-most-affordable car is also made by Nissan, the $22,730 one-size-up Sentra—but without the price-leader stick-shift version, it's not as far ahead of the cheapest SUVs (such as the $21,650 Hyundai Venue or $21,895 Chevrolet Trax) you can buy anymore.
Why'd Nissan kill off its cheapest car? Unfortunately, in today's tariff-laden automotive landscape and Nissan's need to cut costs, the 2025 Versa S with the five-speed stick shift likely just wasn't selling well enough to justify its existence. This news was brought to our attention via the Autopian, and we confirmed the news with Nissan. The beleaguered automaker states: 'We remain committed to offering a line-up that answers the evolving needs of customers and maintains Nissan's competitive edge. We are focusing on the most popular Versa grades that deliver the strongest business performance and are in line with what customers are looking for from this type of sedan.'
While the Nissan drops the three-pedal option from the Versa, we must stress that. the S still remains the cheapest new car in America. It also means that the cheapest new car in America no longer costs less than $20,000. Let that sink in.
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