Most Americans can not afford to buy a new car cash.

Only Chicago , and maybe Pittsburgh allows the average(income ) person to live car free and have a decent apartment.

You have folks in LA who pay upwards of 800$ a month in car payments on a 70k yr salary.

Most people are not buying a new car. The typical new car is bought, or more often leased, by someone who keeps it for three years. However, the average car on the road is 12 years old, which means there are a lot of cars that are being driven by someone who didn't buy them new.