Looking at the numbers in Canada, the Conservative party would make us believe that car theft is at a level never seen before but the truth is there were proportionally more cars stolen back in the 70s, 80, 90s and sometimes even more cars stolen than now in actual numbers with less cars on the road.
I know it's gonna sound completely crazy but... Maybe it's going up because the economic conditions at the moment make some people desperate and no matter if cars were keyless or not, the same thing would have happened? 🤔
Another point: for equivalent models. Car manufacturers over the past two decades have been dropping the more affordable sedans and such from their lineups, favouring their more expensive SUVs.
Out of all the brands you picked the one that actually has cheap models. A rio starts at 17k and a soul at 20k. Most of its vehicles, including SUVs are sub 40k
And it's going to be about 5k more the second you walk in the door because they advertise a price without add ons. They also don't sell one without add ons. Then by the time finance is done you'll be paying at least another 5k.
I'm pretty sure the only companies that didn't include them as a standard feature until recently was Hyundai/Kia. Back in the 90s and 00s, Hondas were by far the number one stolen vehicle in the US and they had chipped keys.
I mean, yeah for many decades car theft was worse. But it kind of got sorted out. Now with the current, honestly inexcusable vulnerabilities, theft has gotten worse again. There were a number of years with keyless cars they're just fine.