As someone who has worked in US automotive manufacturing for a while... we literally all say this constantly. No one wants any of this crap in their car unless they are that out-of-touch-with-reality wealthy.
and yet the barebones models that exist dont sell.
Several of the "Japanese" makers that still offered 20k-ish base model cars with no options recently they all discontinued them because they accounted for not even a rounding error in sales.
No one wants them.
Someone would rather buy a used car with more options for the same price 99 times out of 100.
That's such a different reality than I see because I was trying to buy a Hyundai Ionic earlier this year. I could afford the base model, wanted an EV, but the only models available had a ton of add ons that increased the price by 5-10K.
but the only models available had a ton of add ons that increased the price by 5-10K.
This is more the fault of dealerships' lobbying in every state to defend the existence of their business model. Cars would be 100% custom, made-to-order directly from the manufacturer with only the add-ons that you want... if only dealerships didn't get laws created to protect their existence.
Direct-from-manufacturer sales are illegal, which means dealerships decide which vehicles they want from the manufacturer. And dealerships are always going to be biased toward the more fully-loaded vehicles. Dealerships will also add their own custom bullshit add-ons as well.
This is also why Tesla has such an advantage. Tesla only sells in states that didn't create those same anti-consumer laws for electric vehicles. So Tesla gets to sell its vehicles direct to consumers.
Anyone saying those laws are to "protect the small businesses" are liars or misinformed. It's purely because the dealerships (which are NOT small businesses) spend loads of money to buy politicians & make sure it's illegal for manufacturers to sell you new cars.
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u/TheDevilsDominium 10h ago edited 9h ago
As someone who has worked in US automotive manufacturing for a while... we literally all say this constantly. No one wants any of this crap in their car unless they are that out-of-touch-with-reality wealthy.
Edit: fixed an added dash that didn't belong.