With the average price of a new car in the United States edging on $50,000, it’s not exactly easy to find a solid, reliable family sedan with a new-car warranty on a shoestring budget. If the inside sources are to be believed, it’ll get even harder next year, because 2025 will likely be your last chance to purchase a brand-new Nissan Versa.

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The Nissan Versa marks the absolute baseline of the Japanese company’s current lineup. It currently sits as the cheapest new car in America, and one of few vehicles remaining with an MSRP less than $20,000, clocking in at just $17,190 for a base-model without shipping or dealership fees. By comparison, a new base-model Toyota Corolla costs over $5,000 more at $22,325; a Honda Civic runs even more than that, starting at $24,250. These are cars which cater to budget-friendly audiences — a market segment which, frankly, will always be popular. The Nissan Versa seemingly offered one of the most compelling options, thanks to its low price. 

Nissan haven’t released any statements itself This all comes from insider leaks and rumors dating back to 2023; the discontinuation is speculative at this time in May 2025. That said, according to those leaks, this is supposedly the last year for a new Versa. If so, that’s likely to do with two main reasons: market trends and low sales figures.

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The Nissan Versa represents a deceptively niche market, and that largely revolves around who purchases new versus used cars. To break it down statistically, significantly more used vehicles than new models find homes today, though exact figures remain elusive because many used sales don’t go through official channels. Still, conservative estimates typically reach about three used cars per new car sold. Financing more expensive cars is also becoming more popular lately, as leasing deals offer less incentives for similar levels of expense to auto loans for premium models in 2025. In other words, today people are either buying more expensive new cars, or cheaper used cars.

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There’s a plethora of options for reliable used cars under $20,000, and even used cars under $10,000. What, then, is the role of something like a Nissan Versa? According to recent sales figures, it’s a market which found itself quickly diminishing with the new decade. Versa sales peaked in the mid-2010s, when the sedan regularly sold over 10,000 units a month. However, sales plummeted with the pandemic (along with most other manufacturers) and only just started climbing back up; 2025 marked the first year it saw over 5,000 units/month sold. This leaves the Versa in an awkward area where it’s not “good” enough to make it in a used market with far more prestigious options for similar prices, and not “nice” enough to attract the new-car market. Though, as evidenced by its slowly rising sales figures, that market is steadily increasing as new car prices similarly rise.

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The next point relates to what vehicle types many new-car purchasers aim for: namely, crossovers and trucks. Sedan sales plummeted considerably following the meteoric rise of the crossover, which overtook sedan sales in 2017. All told, this means that, in 2025, less than 25% of new cars sold are sedans, the majority of which rest in the mid-price bracket. In fact, the best-selling new Nissan sedan is the Nissan Altima, which tallied in at number 10 in Kelley Blue Book’s most popular sedans list of 2024 with 113,898 sold. The Versa, meanwhile, boasts less than half that number, selling 42,589 in 2024.

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As for crossovers, they see greatly inflated numbers in comparison to their sedan counterparts. For instance, the number 10 most popular crossover — again, according to Kelley Blue book, is the Subaru Crosstrek. It sold a total of 181,811 units, about 75% more than the Altima. Coupled with pickup trucks, which represent a steady ~20% of new cars sold, and sedans are rapidly falling out of favor with customers and automakers alike.

While the Versa offers many compelling features — compact sedans with 5-speed manuals are hard enough to come by, let alone brand-new models — the fact is that it’s still vastly outsold by more premium offerings. It’s a niche within a niche, being the least expensive new car on top of being a member of a less popular vehicle class. It’s for similar reasons that many outstanding classic mini-trucks died out in the 90s. So, while there’s no official word from Nissan that the Versa will be discontinued, it sadly wouldn’t surprise us, either.

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