- The average American new car buyer paid $50,562 in September – the second-highest total on record.
- The increase came despite a trend toward more affordable cars.
The average new car buyer in America paid $50,562 last month, just $52 less than the all-time record set in December of last year, according to Kelley Blue Book data.
We expected as much. New car prices tend to rise in the second half of the year as sales lots start to fill with cars from the next model year, pushing prices higher.
In fact, prices are growing more slowly than they do in a typical September. The year-over-year price increase came in at less than 1%. A figure 2% to 4% higher than a year ago is not unusual this time of year.
What kept car price inflation down? Americans, stretched thin by war-driven inflation across the economy, are starting to choose less-expensive cars.
“Affordability pressures are pushing more buyers toward lower-priced vehicles and segments, which tempers the industrywide number even as prices for individual vehicles rise,” explains Erin Keating, executive analyst for Kelley Blue Book parent company Cox Automotive.
Subcompact SUVs, compact cars, and small and midsize pickups all saw a sales increase during the month.
- Compact SUV: average price of $37,614, down 0.4% year over year.
- Midsize SUV: average price of $50,630, up 2% year over year.
- Full-size Pickup Truck: average price of $67,573, up 1.5% year over year.
- Subcompact SUV: average price of $31,213, up 1.5% year over year.
- Compact Car: average price of $27,977, up 3.2% year over year.
Automakers and their dealers offered discounts worth just 6.6% of the average sale, down from 7.3% last September. In dollar terms, the average buyer received $3,359 worth of incentives.
The final sale price of the average electric vehicle (EV) was $55,879 last month. That’s 3% lower than last September.
EV prices have been 11% higher than gas-powered prices so far in 2026, down from an average of close to 18% in 2025.
