I sometimes wonder how much a modern "people's car" would cost today, a very basic, economical, but safe reasonably spacious small car without bells and whistles. I'm pretty sure there would be minimal profit potential at best which is why we don't have one. I imagine air cooling is not an option today, but a small 3 cylinder turbo should be fairly cheap, a basic interior, very few options, just a car.
My daughter once had an el strippo Chevy Cruise, it had zero options, none, and it was still very nicely equipped.