“ In 1974, a new car cost an average of 5320 euros. The average income was 13,928 euros per year, so a buyer had to work for an average of 4.6 months for a new car. 20 years later, it was already 7.4 months per new car. Until 2019, this number remained stable, but then it skyrocketed. Today, a buyer has to spend all his income from 9.6 months of employment to buy a new car. For more expensive e-cars, it is even 11.4 months. The reason is stagnant incomes, but also high profit margins of the manufacturers.” https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/verbraucher/kosten-auto...
From my personal perspective, as an employed software engineer, all cars over 50k are luxury.
62k Euros gets a lifetime of used vehicles. I'll say the quiet thing: buying a new car and taking the depreciation is a form of luxury. More about status than getting to the destination.
Dan has a point. I could pay for half of a house right now, committing seems silly until things cool down. Two articles away from being relocated again, despite working remotely.