You have a source for that?

I wish dealership margins were that thin.

Cars are much more expensive post pandemic than pre-pandemic.

https://csimarket.com/Industry/industry_Profitability_Ratios... has some good data, as you see we’re talking mid to low single digits net, low teens gross. To your point, this is an increase that happened during the pandemic, interestingly.

Dealership margins, as I recall, are 10-20%, also not great.

Mfg margins have come up during the pandemic, interestingly, but historically have been very low[1]:

> While estimated aggregate industry operating profit margins are 6 to 7 percent (Exhibit 1), large variations in profitability exists across companies. For instance, some European niche, luxury companies make double-digit margins more akin to those of high-tech players, while mass-market (or value-focused) OEMs make 4 to 5 percent.

[1]: https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Industries/Automot...

Your post under says margins of 6%? 17 cents over a 6% margin on a $30,000+ purchase would be like McDonalds charging for extra salt on their fries.

I’d guess it’s an ease of design and manufacturing decision when you can eliminate so many buttons so easily.

> would be like McDonalds charging for extra salt on their fries.

Aren't they? I had a vague impression it happened. And of course, some McDonalds' locations charge you something absurd for an extra ketchup packet.

Pretty much any McDonalds I’ve been to in Central Europe has a charge on each condiment pack.

In Poland I've experienced both ones that charge you per packet, and ones where asking for a packet will have the cashier grab a bunch of them without even counting, give them to you for free, and move on to handle another customer.

That applies only to ketchup packs, though - they always charge for sauces. The only place I ever got sauce containers by handful for free was in a KFC in Shenzhen, China.

In my experience in the USA, most fast food restaurants in the suburbs give away sauces for free, but the ones in cities charge for everything. Seems to also be correlated with whether or not the fast food restaurant has self serve soda fountains versus soda poured behind the counter.

Their margins being thin is a matter of perspective. Most farms are running 1% profit margins on average and have massive variations in yield that auto production lacks.

Most farmers (who have been farming for years) are extremely land rich. Everything goes to pay for land that continues to appreciate.

source: came from a farming family. All income goes back into the farm and we continually buy new circles.