Brandedis a weekly column devoted to the intersection of marketing, business, design, and culture.If youre in the market for a cheap new car, it might feel like automakers have given up on the affordable-vehicle market in the U.S. While a recent Edmunds survey found nearly half of new-car shoppers are looking to spend $35,000 or less, the average price of a new vehicle transaction in 2024 was around $48,000more than 50% above where it was a decade ago, per Kelley Blue Book estimates. There are almost no options left under $20,000. And those hoping for a cheaper electric vehicle got jolted when Elon Musk declared late last year that developing a $25,000 EV was silly. Plus, a new batch of Trump tariffs could make the budget car-shoppers road even rougher.Musks blunt dismissal of a budget EV appeared to be a reverse-course on years of promises that just such a car was in the works, but he is now promising a $25,000 robotaxi by 2026. Though theres plenty of skepticism about Tesla hitting that timetable, theres lots of agreement about the (lack of) appeal of the U.S. budget market for EVs.That market sucks, Peter Rawlinson, chief executive of Lucid Motors, maker of a $90,000 electric SUV named the Gravity, told the Wall Street Journal. In short, the argument goes, achieving even thin margins on budget vehicles requires a mass scale that the current market cant deliver.In addition, the Trump administration is expected to end or curtail the $7,500 federal tax credit designed to help bring EVs within reach of more consumers. That will likely be a hit to already-slowing EV sales, especially among the budget-conscious.At least in the U.S., that is. Its worth noting that Chinese EV makers such as BYDwhich has lately caught and even passed Tesla in unit sales volume globallysells plenty of budget-end EVs and hybrids in China, as well as the European market and elsewhere. One of BYDs popular model sells for around $12,000 in China. These are effectively kept out of the U.S. market to date by tariffs and other regulatory policies. President Biden has accused Chinese EV makers of unfair trade practices, and its not entirely clear to what extent Chinas government backing has aided its EV industry. But it is clear that its found a global market of budget buyers.The car industry in the U.S.beyond EVshas become steadily less focused on budget vehicles in general. The portion of new vehicles purchased in the U.S. that are priced at $25,000 or less has fallen from 40% to around 10% in the past 10 years.Now, some of the most popular cheaper cars may be affected by threatened 25% tariffs on vehicles manufactured in Mexico or Canada. About a third of budget vehicles for the U.S. market are built in Mexico, and tariffs could potentially drive prices beyond the reach of many target customers.Honda Civic sedans (now priced just under $25,000) are made in Canada; Kia manufactures its Forte and K4 cars (about $20,000 and 22,000, respectively) in Mexico. Plus, there are parts made in those countries that get assembled into vehicles in the U.S. Most of those costs will be passed onto consumers, potentially adding $3,000 to the cost of new vehicles, by one estimate. And again, that boost would be toughest for budget-constrained shoppersalready squeezed by higher prices for cars, and for most everything else, since the pandemic.Of course the professed goal of tariffs is to incentivize new domestic production, but much like Teslas promised robocar, that will take time if it actually happens. Until then, the already squeezed makers of both EVs and conventional cars maylike many other consumer-goods companiessimply shift the focus on more well-off customers to keep driving profits.