Just like the dodo and passenger pigeon before it, the affordable new car is about to go extinct as a species. The last new Mitsubishi Mirage model is expected to be sold by the end of this summer—and after that, there will be no new cars available for sale in the U.S. for less than $20,000.

The Mirage is a fuel-efficient compact hatchback, and until it sells out, it is the cheapest new car on the market. In June it sold for an average transaction price of $18,484.

The Mirage was able to stay so cheap by offering the bare minimum. It’s tiny. And while it has now-standard features like a touchscreen and rearview camera system, it doesn’t have much else. In Car and Driver’s review of the final 2024 Mitsubishi Mirage G4, the publication gave the car a 3/10 rating, noting that it was cheap to buy but cheaply made, with a puny engine and drab driving demeanor. “Cheap? Yes. Cheerful? Not so much,” it said.

This is a car that gets you from point A to point B. If you want to get there quickly, that’s extra. You get what you pay for.

Mitsubishi said last year that it was ending production of the Mirage, and now there are only some 1,700 left, according to data from the car-services firm Cox Automotive. Based on the current sales pace, the firm predicts the last Mirage will be sold by summer’s end. Buyers looking for the cheapest new car will then have to turn to the 2025 Nissan Versa S ($20,130) or 2025 Hyundai Venue SE ($21,695), per Cars.com.

Inflation since the pandemic has hit the automotive industry especially hard, with the average transaction price for a new vehicle rising from about $40,000 in 2020 to nearly $49,000 in 2025, per Kelley Blue Book data. Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have led to increased production costs, and while major automakers have yet to announce consumer-side price increases in response to new import duties, Doug Ostermann, CFO of Stellantis, said during a call on July 21 that he believes “we’re coming to the end of that period.”

While the Mirage is no-frills, it offered buyers an ultracheap option for when cost was the most important decision-making factor. Without it, the average price of new cars will only continue to climb.