You’re absolutely correct. All automakers have abandoned small cheap cars because they don’t actually cost that much less to manufacture than massive tank-cars.
Imaginary example to illustrate this:
Car A: small hatchback with basic cloth seats, 50KWh battery, standard satnav/stereo system. With $2000 of materials, $10,000 of manufacturing and labour, and a sale price of $20,000, for a profit of $8000.
Car B: SUV shaped faux-luxury car with leather seats, 80KWh battery, the same stereo, and fake wood and chrome covered plastic all over it. $3000 raw materials, $15,000 of manufacturing and labour, but it sells for $65,000, this automaker gets a profit of $47,000!
It’s easy to see why they’re doing this. By making their cars enormous and expensive but with long financing terms they can create “mandatory luxury”.
