Sub-$500 New Car Payments Are Becoming Few And Far Between

Good morning! It's Monday, July 13, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition, you've got to hit a perfect storm to actually get a $sub-500 new car loan in today's market; the Justice Department has turned its sights on United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain; Volkswagen's CEO says the company may need to cut 50,000 more jobs to stay competitive; and Ford strikes a deal with Unifor union in Canada.

Oh, and if you want a recap of the latest auto news delivered to your inbox each weekday morning because life is busy and you can't always head to our website, you can sign up for Jalopnik's free The Morning Shift newsletter right here.

We've talked a hell of a lot about expensive new vehicle loans, but what about the other end of the spectrum? What about affordable new car loans? Why haven't we covered those in the past? Well, my curious friends, it's because they're pretty much dead and gone. In the first quarter of this year, just one-in-five new vehicle loans had payments under $500 per month, according to data from Experian. That's roughly the same number who were paying over $1,000 per month. Despite the fact that it's nearly $270 less than the average monthly payment for a new vehicle loan, I bet there's a hell of a lot of folks out there who wouldn't even consider $500 cheap. Everything is a mess.

Still, even to get a measly $500-ish loan, buyers are often required to have a very solid credit score, a hefty down payment, and be shopping for a more budget-friendly vehicle in the first place. It's a nearly impossible task for most Americans, and it would explain why just 11% of new-vehicle financing deals cost between $400 and $499 per month and an even smaller portion — just 9.1% cost less than $400. From Automotive News:

A consumer who can't afford a large car loan payment could finance some of these sub-$500 vehicles, but they'll need to buy lower-priced models and, in many cases, be in a better financial position than the average buyer, Experian data shows.

[...]

"Smaller cars will generate these lower monthly payments," Melinda Zabritski, Experian head of automotive financial insights. said. "But other than that, it's typically a higher credit score taking advantage of an incentive, and then very likely having a considerable down payment on top of that."

The average new-vehicle loan with a monthly payment less than $500 during the 1st quarter likely required a larger down payment and a less expensive model than the typical new-vehicle loan.

[...]

Experian identified 25 models with an average monthly payment below $500. For 18 of them, buyers' average credit scores and interest rates were similar to or better than the average for all new-vehicle loans. Gaps between the amount financed and the sticker price were also wider, implying a large down payment.

For the other seven models, buyers' credit scores were below average, though still above 700, and interest rates were at or above average. Down payments had minimal impact on reducing the amount financed below sticker price.

These models are all what you'd sort of expect — nothing really too groundbreaking. You've got the Chevy Trax, Hyundai Elantra, Kia K4, Nissan Kicks, Nissan Sentra, Nissan Versa (which is dead), and Toyota Corolla. Basically, it's a list made up of cheap economy cars. 

If you can believe it, Donald Trump's Department of Justice is not a fan of United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, and it's now investigating him amid claims that he sought favors for his fiancée. Fain said he's being unfairly targeted by the DOJ and has promised to "fight back hard."

He blamed current UAW VP Rich Boyer for attempting to undermine Fain's credibility before the two face off in an upcoming six-way race for the UAW presidency. The two have been butting heads since 2024 and have long claimed that Fain disciplined him after objecting to Fain trying to influence him over bonuses at his fiancée's place of work. From the Detroit Free Press:

The news of the investigation comes about two weeks after the monitor overseeing the union for the federal government published a scathing report in federal court, alleging that Fain did, indeed, retaliate unfairly against Boyer in 2024. At that time, Fain stripped Boyer of his duty overseeing the Stellantis Department — the sector of the union with about 40,000 members who work for the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram family of companies.

The monitor, Neil Barofsky, found the retaliation was due, in part, because Boyer would not approve bonuses at the Stellantis National Training Center where Fain's fiancee works. Fain is engaged to Keesha McConaghie, according to his online bio on the UAW's website. McConaghie is a financial analyst at the training center, according to her LinkedIn profile.

In the statement distributed by his campaign, Fain he sees the investigation as a political stunt.

"Let's be clear about what's going on here: Rich Boyer has fed the monitor false allegations about me and is now trying to weaponize these bogus allegations to steal the upcoming UAW election. He knows he can't win a fair fight because he has no real platform to run on. ...

"I'm done being silent. Neil Barofsky has a political grudge against me because the UAW took an anti-war stance about what was happening in Gaza."

Fain also previously threatened to fight Barofsky in the parking lot outside of the union's headquarters, believing the monitor had accused him of being antisemitic.

Fain said he has retained a law firm to dispute "the monitor's trumped-up claims" against him.

Barofsky, who has the power to leverage punishment in his duty as monitor, wrote in a footnote in his latest report that he would be deferring punishment "pending further consultation with the parties to the Consent Decree."

Rather than report the details that substantiated the accusation, Barofsky instead said he would offer the information to "the parties to the Consent Decree." The parties to the consent degree include the DOJ and U.S. District Court in Detroit. It's a legal agreement reached in 2021 between the UAW and federal court that came about after a nasty corruption scandal that landed a handful of former union leaders in prison. At that point, the union agreed to undergo federal monitorship, and the court appointed Barofsky, an independent attorney, and avoided entering a full federal takeover with the union.

Volkswagen's cuts are far from over. In an internal memo, CEO Oliver Blume says the German automaker might need to shed about 50,000 more jobs to match the competitiveness of its rivals. This pretty much confirms for the first time that the automaker is looking to reduce up to 100,000 jobs at the company. Blume has been struggling to streamline and trim Europe's biggest carmaker as it deals with slumping profits and rising tariff costs, as well as increasing competition from China and a mess of an EV strategy. From Reuters:

After already agreeing 50,000 job cuts ​across the group, including its Porsche and Audi subsidiaries, the company must work on reducing costs further, having calculated a cost disadvantage versus comparable companies of 20%, Blume said ​in the memo seen by Reuters.

This means a "theoretical deduction" of another 50,000 ​jobs worldwide, the memo said.

"We are currently assessing across all brands, companies and regions how ‌many ⁠adjustments are actually necessary and feasible," Blume said in the document.

The company had previously declined to comment on reports it was considering up to 100,000 job losses.

[...]

"As of today, we still cannot confirm competitive use cases for the plants of Emden, Hanover, Zwickau and Neckarsulm in the 2030s," Blume said in the ⁠memo.

He ​said he preferred "intelligent solutions" to closures, having previously ​pointed to the defence industry or the production of Chinese Volkswagen models in Europe as options ​for underutilised factories.

The memo comes on the heels of angry calls from workers for management to explain the restructuring plan that Blume had presented to the board last week. Sources who were familiar with the matter explained to Reuters that labor representatives on the committee blocked the proposal. It was said to include job cuts and the possible closure of four factories.

The Canadian Unifor workers' union and Ford reached a tentative three-year agreement over the weekend after about three weeks of bargaining and marathon last-minute talks that went late into the night. Right now, there's no word on exactly what the details of the deal are, as both sides are waiting for a membership vote.

Unifor represents about 5,000 workers at Ford in Canada, and it opened up contract talks on June 22 as U.S. tariffs muddied the waters of Canadian competitiveness. The union vowed to make no concessions, despite the less-than-stellar state of the industry. It said retirement security, wages, and income security were its priorities. From Automotive News:

Ford Canada said it was aiming for a fair agreement that recognizes the value of its workforce but provides the company with added "flexibility" to continue to improve productivity and quality. The automaker is poised to start commercial production of Super Duty pickups at its recently retooled Oakville Assembly Complex this fall. It also has two engine plants in Windsor and three parts distribution centres in Ontario and Alberta. Unifor represents hourly staff at all six workplaces.

The union's current collective agreements with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis do not expire until Sept. 20, but given the trade uncertainty, Unifor opted to sit down with the Detroit Three early. It chose Ford as its initial bargaining target in May and was working toward July 10 as its internal deadline to wrap up discussions with Ford.

Unifor said the tentative agreement, reached after lengthy sessions July 10 and 11, has the unanimous endorsement of the union's bargaining committee, including President Lana Payne and Ford Master Bargaining Chairperson John D'Agnolo.

But rank-and-file membership must vote to approve the deal before it is finalized. Ratification meetings are scheduled for July 17-19.

If approved, the union will look to apply the same terms in upcoming talks with GM and Stellantis, as part of its pattern bargaining strategy.

Solidarity forever, baby.

History.com

By all accounts, Henry Ford II was sort of a dope. Firing Iacocca was almost certainly a mistake, but if he didn't do it, we almost certainly wouldn't have gotten the Chrysler minivan or the Dodge Viper. Hell, who knows if we'd even have MOPAR at all these days? Big shoutout to Hank Ford for that one. If you want to learn about the interpersonal struggles between these two guys, head over to History.com.

Gas prices were technically down a tick from where they were yesterday, but they're still up considerably over the past week or so. You can thank the restart of fighting between the U.S. and Iran, as well as the re-closing of the Strait of Hormuz for that.  WTI Crude Oil futures and Brent Crude prices are also slightly elevated, sitting at $74 and $79, respectively, at the time of publication.

Here's where national average prices stand right now, according to AAA:

AAA

This all shakes out to the price of a gallon of regular gas dropping about a cent overnight to $3.87, according to AAA. Still, we're a good ways away from the 2026 peak we saw back on May 21, when prices hit $4.56 per gallon, so that's something.

There's only one song we could put on the radio this morning.