DETROIT — Just five years ago, a price-conscious auto shopper in the U.S. could choose from among a dozen new small cars selling for under $20,000. Now, there’s just one: The Mitsubishi Mirage. And even the Mirage appears headed for the scrap yard.

At a time when Americans increasingly want pricey SUVs and trucks rather than small cars, the Mirage remains the lone new vehicle whose average sale price is under 20 grand — a figure that once marked a kind of unofficial threshold of affordability. With new and used prices having soared since the pandemic, $20,000 is no longer much of a starting point for a new car.

The current version of the Mirage, which reached U.S. dealerships a decade ago, sold for an average of $19,205 last month, according to data from Cox Automotive. Though a few other new models have starting prices under $20,000, their actual purchase prices, with options and shipping, exceed that figure.

The Mirage, with hatchback and sedan versions, costs less than half of what the average U.S. new vehicle does. That average is now just above $48,000 — 25 percent more than before the pandemic struck three years ago.

“I just won’t pay that kind of price,” said Karen Schaeppi of suburban Minneapolis, who bought a red Mirage sedan last month for around $19,000.

When she set out to replace her 2008 Ford Focus, Schaeppi was surprised to find no small cars available at the dealers she visited — at any price.

“There was nothing that existed,” she said. “Not even close.”

The scarcity of small cars at dealerships helps explain why the average new vehicle costs so much: Detroit’s Big Three automakers — General Motors, Stellantis and Ford — began to jettison the compact and subcompact car business about five years ago. One victim was GM’s Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cruze, which the automaker halted production of in 2019 and closed the facility after more than 50 years of making autos there.

Low profit margins for small cars and consumers’ increasing shift to SUVs and trucks made the decision an easy one. Likewise, Toyota and Honda later halted U.S. sales of their subcompacts.

Then a pandemic-related computer-chip shortage slashed global auto production. Vehicles were suddenly in short supply at a time of high demand. Prices shot up.

Another factor that has swollen average prices is that 32 models in the United States now have selling prices above $100,000, according to Cox. As recently as 2018, only 12 models sold for over 100 grand. At an average sale price of $29,000, even most used vehicles cost more than a new Mirage.

At White Bear Mitsubishi near St. Paul, Minnesota, where Schaeppi bought her vehicle, used cars are the main competition for the Mirage, according to Richard Herod III, the dealership’s managing partner. But because so few new small cars were sold in recent years, he said, the used-vehicle selection is low and prices are high.

A new Mirage, which costs about the same as a 4-year-old Cruze or Mazda 3, has a five-year, 60,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty. Most used cars that age, Herod said, no longer include such warranties. The Mirage gets roughly 39 miles to the gallon, among the highest of any vehicle in the United States that isn’t hybrid or electric.

Still, the horsepower in its three-cylinder engine amounts to a tepid 76.

“It’s not going to win any drag races,” Herod said. “It’s not going to make you more popular at school. It’s the last honest affordable car in America.”

Despite the low price, U.S. sales of the Mirage have been sluggish. Mitsubishi sold 5,316 in the first half of the year — 44 percent below the same period in 2022.

And it might not be available at all in a couple of years. The trade publication Automotive News has reported Mitsubishi will stop selling the Mirage by mid-decade. Mitsubishi, part of the Nissan-Renault alliance, declined to comment. But its website states production of the Mirage in Thailand, where it is built, is ending.

Once the Mirage disappears, Mitsubishi’s least expensive vehicle would be the Outlander Sport small SUV. It starts around $24,600, which includes shipping.

Michelle Krebs, an analyst at Cox Automotive, said she thinks sales of the Mirage would be stronger if more customers knew about it.

In addition, Krebs said, Mitsubishi buyers tend to have lower-than-average credit scores, and many of them have been priced out of the auto market entirely because higher loan rates have sent monthly payments surging.

A buyer who put down a 10 percent payment at the average Mirage sales price of $19,205 would owe roughly $365 each month for 60 months at a 7 percent loan rate.

The latest data suggests that Mitsubishi’s decision to phase out the Mirage might be premature. Overall sales of small cars, after having dropped in seven of the past 10 years, are up 11.7 percent in the first half of the year. Some of that gain may reflect more interest from consumers concerned about higher gas prices, Krebs said, but most of it represents fleet sales to rental car companies.

Mitsubishi can afford to sell the Mirage for less than its competitors do for similar vehicles because it’s such an old model that money to develop it has long since been spent, said Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst for Guidehouse Insights.

Low-wage labor is another factor: Factory workers in Thailand make only about $16 a day — far less than unionized automakers earn in the United States and slightly less than in Mexico.

Even as the Mirage appears likely to be phased out, some other cars and SUVs have average sales prices only slightly above $20,000. They include the Kia Rio, the Nissan Versa, the Hyundai Venue and the Nissan Sentra. According to Cox, their prices range from $20,157 for the Rio to $23,994 for the Sentra.

As the sub-$20,000 new car disappears, Krebs suggests buyers who need affordable transportation consider certified pre-owned small cars, which can be reasonably priced and include at least a year’s warranty.

But don’t expect the return of the $20,000 new car.

“I can’t imagine that unless a Chinese automaker came in and sold cheap,” Krebs said. “Politically, that doesn’t seem likely.”