"What do you mean by affordable?"

Well. I have a big family. I drive a 7 seater SUV because I need all seven seats (and if we're taking any luggage, I have to hook up a trailer). So my car is a big turbodiesel that takes up a lot of space, although that's entirely relative - it was just about the biggest thing on local roads when it was built in 2013, now it's slightly below average.

It has all the bells and whistles. All the luxuries. One of those cars where they make a fuss about how many speakers it has, and which company they bought them from. Heated this, electric that, very nice. And yet... the cheapest on the market in its class. By a LOT.

Even the very cheapest of the new chinese SUVs is still about 10% more expensive. 3 years ago, it was HALF the price of the next cheapest car with the same passenger capacity.

And for some reason the resale value isn't great, so you can get a still-good used one for cheaper than a basic city runabout.

Maybe that's the marketing strategy. Stop trying to impress automotive press who will write 4 paragraphs about how aggressively masculine the shoulderline is (whatever that means), and just sell good cars that people can afford.