Cars are relatively advanced and more importantly, seen as a status symbol by many. There is, IMO, plenty of space for not-the-cheapest, quality cars.

Take Renault for example, their Renault 5 and 4 EVs are good looking, not luxury but definitely premium, and the 5 sedan starts at 30k€; the 4 crossover starts at 29k€. This is before a 5k€ government subsidy. Their boring, fewer bells and whistles, low cost model, the Dacia Spring, starts at 17k€. The Renault 5 and 4 are made almost entirely in France, while the Dacia is made in Romania - a lower cost country, but still an EU member state.

The comparable in size and autonomy BYD Dolphin starts at 20k€. Both for cheapness and quality/design, Renault are competitive.

The new 5 is one of the first cars I've really liked in a while.

They really nailed the modern-with-subtle-calls-to-retro look.

Agreed, I'm not a car person and too young to remember the original 5, but it's really good and fun and modern and slightly retro looking. It's almost making me want to buy it, and I have absolutely no use for it.

If you haven't already (which seems unlikely), look into the Renault 5 Turbo.

Bit of an absurd car, but the modern (non-turbo) 5's slight bumps over the rear wheels are such a good callback to the Turbo (the original Renault 5 were basically all flat).

Really fine design stuff IMO.