America’s car dealers are coming to a stark realization: The new vehicles on their lots too often cost too much, and that could create trouble for their businesses in 2026.

As the economy enters a moment of uncertainty, attendees of the annual National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Las Vegas last week kept mentioning the intensifying need for affordable vehicles. In response, dealers are set to stock their lots this year with cheaper models and trims — and top off on used cars.

“Car prices continue to rise,” Tom Castriota, a Florida Chevrolet dealer and NADA’s outgoing chairman, told conference attendees, later underscoring the need to stock a “full range of products at prices customers can afford.”

Dealers, experts and other attendees painted a mixed picture of what they see on the horizon. On one hand, higher earners are doing just fine. Many have watched their disposable income grow of late amid a largely robust stock market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing above 50,000 for the first time Friday. Consumers also are expected to have some more cash in their pocket in the coming months thanks to new tax breaks enacted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year.

And yet concerning indicators have popped up. Job and wage growth has recently slowed and is expected to stagnate this year. Consumer confidence fell through much of late 2025, and in January, slumped to its lowest level in more than 11 years.

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