I don’t know how to measure “net price” of vehicles.  But one statistic I try to keep an eye on is the Comerica Affordability index.  Basically the index takes a family’s income and divides it by the average cost of buying a vehicle (including financing costs.)  It is the “cost of buying the vehicle” we all struggle in measuring given how creative all of the various customer and dealer incentive programs have become. 

Keeping the limitations in mind, the folks at Comerica (headed up by Chief Economist Dana Johnson,) estimate in January, February and March of 2007 (first quarter,) it took the average family in America 24.7 weeks of their income (technically ...

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