Here in the UK, the price of the base-spec Dacia Sandero (and comparable cars like the Kia Picanto and Hyundai i10) has more than doubled in six years. The C1, 108 and Up! have been discontinued, as have a raft of other cheap small cars.
That's partly explained by inflation, but also by the massive amounts of extra safety equipment mandated by the General Safety Regulation. The bill of materials for cheap cars has increased by thousands of euros, because they're legally required to have cameras and radar.
A Dacia Spring is still around £11k at the cheapest dealers, Sandero about £16k, and a Renault Clio about £17k, Kia Picanto £15k. All for bottom end variants with no extras, but gets you there.
That's partly explained by inflation, but also by the massive amounts of extra safety equipment mandated by the General Safety Regulation. The bill of materials for cheap cars has increased by thousands of euros, because they're legally required to have cameras and radar.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2014_2019/plmrep/COM...