Nissan to roll out $3,000 model in Japan

Nissan is reviving the Datsun nameplate for foreign car buyers with a $3,000 price point for overseas markets.

Unfortunately, the bare bones Datsun is only planned for Japan at this time. Nissan senses a market for this kind of car and I think they’re right. When I last spoke about the plans for this, the price target was $5,000, but now that price has been reduced by $2,000.

Should a car like this come to our shores, it would likely price out to be around $5,550 to $6,000. That added surcharge includes factoring in the cost of making the required safety and emissions tweaks required by our federal government.

Know that the Nissan Datsun initiative is not like a lone wolf kind of thing. There is a precedent for this. Renault is a big auto-seller in Europe and they’ve developed the Logan, a fully equipped vehicle for 7,000 euros, which is less than $10,000.

We are moving into an era of cheaper cars. But the great news here is that used cars are affordable again, as I recently told you.

The Detroit News  reports the average price of a used midsized SUV is down 11% over the last year. But used SUVs aren’t the only deal to be had at this time. The value of luxury cars as used cars is down 6% and minivans down are down 5% too.

The new ultra affordable cars are not here yet, so buying a used car that is inspected by a mechanic of your choosing as a condition of purchase is still key to unlocking great savings.

I say buy used and let the first owner eat the depreciation and you get the deal!