The common cost of a car has not changed since 1993.
Adjust dollars to the level in 1993 and you will find the same prices, even though automakers have added plenty of creature comforts and refinements.
I question the idea that a car could be sold fairly for $5000. $8000, perhaps. Of course, you would have to adjust down for the bloat factor of fat lazy American antics and the finnick factor of the high quality specialists and adjust up for the absolute slave wage 3rd world horror show factor of Chinese manufacturing.
But why isn't it done? Daewoo and Kia seem like they don't want to stoop THAT low, at least not often. Probably they don't need to stoop low to make money any more and are starting to compete.
Therefore, a base Chinese auto, fiasco that it would be, would probably sell for $7000. Americans could absolutely give them **** with a base auto for $9000. But, it won't happen because nobody has a taste for sustainability and utility.
If a car was really designed well so that it could be produced for decades with a minimum of design changes, the common cost of a base auto would probably be very low. It would probably be very profitable, as well. The car could be designed for maintainability and the service around it designed for cost effective maintenance.
A non-disposable automobile.
But this will never happen. In 1993, people said everything would be robotic by 2010. Instead, the exact same machines are going slower because of safety devices, and the design of machines doesn't change unless you change it yourself.
So maybe in 2250 we'll see some intelligent work done across the board in manufacturing, but it probably won't be in automobiles. Automobiles will still be disposable crap--Except for Hondas and Toyotas.