The viral pandemic has triggered a cascade of price hikes throughout America’s auto industry — a surge that has made both new and used vehicles unaffordable for many. Prices of new vehicles far outpaced overall consumer inflation over the past year. In response, many buyers who were priced out of that market turned to used vehicles. Yet their demand proved so potent that used-vehicle prices soared even more than new ones did. The price of an average new vehicle jumped 6% to a record $40,578 between January of last year and December, according to data from Edmunds.com. The average price of a used vehicle surged nearly 14% to over $23,000.