50 years of Australia’s most affordable cars

In 1975, you could buy a brand new car for less than $2500. We look back at the past half-century of the country’s most affordable cars.

Fifty years ago, Australia’s most affordable car, the Mini Moke, could be yours for just $2384. Sure, it didn’t have doors, and the part-time roof was a thin bit of canvas, but for under three-thousand bucks, you could find yourself with a brand new car in your driveway.

It seems almost unthinkable that as recently as 2001, new car buyers could nab a brand new car – the Daihatsu Handi – for under $10,000. That would have been it for sub-$10k cars, when in 2013, fledgling Chinese brand Chery asked just $9990 for its Chery J1 hatchback.

Since then, just two models – Mitsubishi’s Mirage and Kia’s Picanto – have held the honour of Australia’s most affordab