The cheapest new cars to own in America are THESE retro-styled EVs

A new study of 50 new cars found the Fiat 500e, a small electric car, is the cheapest to own and run in America, at $3,557 a year. That covers energy costs, maintenance, insurance, and fees and taxes combined. The next cheapest is the Honda Civic Hybrid at $4,833 a year, followed by gas models like the Hyundai Elantra and Nissan Versa.

The surprise is second place among electric vehicles: the Dodge Charger Daytona, a retro-styled EV, costs $5,298 a year to own, beating the Tesla Model 3 and Hyundai Ioniq 6 by roughly $200 each, and coming in about $200 cheaper than a Honda Accord. Across all 50 vehicles studied, the average annual cost was $6,913, up $451 from a similar study two years ago. Hybrids as a group were the cheapest to own overall, at $5,734 a year on average, compared with $6,189 for electric vehicles and $7,025 for gas-only cars. At the other end, the Porsche 911 and Audi RS7 topped $10,000 a year, and the Lucid Air was the priciest electric vehicle to own, at $10,049 annually.

For anyone weighing a new car purchase alongside home energy upgrades, the takeaway is that sticker price doesn't tell the whole story. Fuel or electricity costs, insurance, maintenance, and taxes all add up differently depending on the vehicle, and a cheap-to-buy EV or hybrid can end up saving real money each year compared with a pricier gas car.