When manufacturers have a slow selling line they usually offer incentives for dealerships to take on more of that line. They either juice the hold back or plain cut the cost. That way dealerships can cut the retail cost without suffering themselves. The manufacturer gets a tidy tax write off.
I do know a dealer can’t be forced to take a vehicle they didn’t order but do have to accept every vehicle they did order.
The whole dealership model of business can be very byzantine when you get into the nuts and bolts of it, but it has gotten better.
The coal powered cars (EV’s) were a one off that really shouldn’t be counted. Just another example of government screwing something up.
Saturn tried a direct from manufacturer model of sales didn’t it?