I have no interest in buying another ICE vehicle, so I'll continue to maintain my current car, but I'm ready to buy once they offer something I'm looking for.
The US car industry seems really determined not to allow anything affordable on the market. It's not just EVs. They also push overpriced bloated gas guzzlers.
Eventually someone will get a cheap reliable decent-range EV like you want into the market and steamroll the entire industry.
This time around the Japanese have been assimilated; it looks like it'll have to be the Chinese to make useful cars.
https://carfromjapan.com/article/industry-knowledge/the-hist...
That notwithstanding, perceived Toyota quality (perhaps in particular) was a big part of their success in probably the 80s/90s.
Some of the legacy mainstream brands used to offer an affordable entry-level model as essentially a loss leader to build brand loyalty with younger consumers. The theory was that those consumers would return in a few years and trade that cheap car in for a more profitable model. But now the brands have largely abandoned that strategy.
As for fuel economy, it costs more to build an efficient vehicle. If consumers are willing to pay a premium for efficiency then manufacturers will be happy to build it.
Me, and apparently many others since manufacturers are cutting their forecasts?
As a consumer I don't really care what makes manufacturers more profit, I just want a product that meets my needs, and the first one to do so gets my money. Many, many cars are sold at a Civic's price band, and it wouldn't be happening if it wasn't profitable.
Legacy car makers can twiddle their thumbs all they want, but upstarts like BYD are going to eat their lunch if they don't become competitive. They're making competitively priced EVs, and building a plant in Mexico, so competition is about to heat up.