I have been saying this for several years. Because the price of cars are outpacing the annual increase in salaries, we are going to reach a point where car manufacturers will have to shift their business model from selling cars, to either subscriptions (leasing 2.0) or annual rental agreements.
What I said would happen is that eventually car manufacturers would realize they are pricing their cars out of the reach of most people and while that low/normal car payment seems great for year 1 and most of year 2, as maintenance and problem expenses start happening after 2-3 years, suddenly you realize you are paying new car rate payments for a car that's not new, is costing you more money and is more likely to have something go wrong with it. All the while, your friend, coworker, neighbor, etc. are driving around brand new cars they just bought and are paying the same or even lower than you are each month.
The same will eventually happen with other markets as well such as phones (already has in some cases) where products become too expensive for most people to buy and subsidizing is no longer viable for third party companies.
The most logical move by car manufacturers is to offer new types of car leases (more like rentals) where every 1-2 years, you bring your car back and drive home with a new one. It becomes a perpetual rental agreement that allows car manufacturers to lock in their customers, much like phone companies do.
