The automaker Stellantis plans to introduce nine models that will sell for less than $40,000.The global carmaker with more than a dozen brands — including Fiat, Maserati, Peugeot, Jeep, Ram, Dodge, and Chrysler — unveiled its new business plan on Thursday morning. Offering cheaper cars is notable because the average cost for a new passenger vehicle these days sits right around $50,000.“If I go back to, say, 1965 or ‘75, car quality was poor,” said auto analyst Glenn Mercer. “A used car was a lemon, a junker, it was about to explode.”That means there was a strong incentive to buy new cars, so automakers offered them at every price point. But Mercer said car quality has improved so much that customers who want something affordable can now safely buy used, higher-end models.“So the entry-level competition is no longer Corolla versus a Versa, it’s a Corolla versus a used Camry,” he said. “Why wouldn’t I buy the bigger car in pretty much equivalent shape for the same amount of money?”And so, some automakers have abandoned their most affordable models altogether, said David Whiston, a senior auto analyst with Morningstar.“There's a lot more profit in selling a Highlander than there is a Corolla,” he said.There’s been more demand for that Highlander too, said Erin Keating, executive analyst at Cox Automotive.“We do continue to see a consumer that is looking for the larger, more technologically advanced vehicles,” she said.But major price increases on those big, new SUVs are starting to push some consumers to the brink, said Tyson Jominy, senior vice president of customer success at J.D. Power. Plus, automakers are eyeing the possibility of lower-cost competitors hitting the market.“They're thinking, ‘What happens if Chinese automakers enter the U.S.? What happens if a lot of the competitors build plants in the U.S. and can start avoiding tariffs or future tariffs?’” he said.Jominy said Stellantis may want to acquaint American consumers with its affordable models before any of that happens.