Right you are. I’ve not been in the business, but I understand that dealerships are largely financial and not sales instruments. That is, the money is not in the retail sale (which is why the push “extras” so hard bc that’s the profit in the sale) but in the way it is financed between the factory, dealer and banks. If so, then with low inventories, the dealers are moving around a lot less money to skim off of.
Cars have been following the razor blade model for a while now.
It’s another reason why, with only 1 exception, we buy the base trim.
I purely hate being hosed.