Yea, neither am I: Grandpa had a Ford dealership until about 5 years ago, his son ran the service department. My uncle on the other side currently sells cars for Honda. I'm well-versed in the car business.
I'm not sure how your comment contradicts mine. If you get a $100,000 bonus for selling a vehicle, the marginal profit on that vehicle is damn near $100,000. Dealerships don't sell cars for a loss. Of course, that doesn't help the consumer unless the consumer wants that particular model, with the particular options that need to be sold to get the bonus.
OK, now you're just using semantics to change your argument.
Regardless, the stair-step incentives is just ONE of many examples I can provide.
The backlash against TrueCar's initial business model showed there were some dealers selling vehicles for below cost, in hopes of making up the difference with add-on sales. Whether these dealers made up the profit difference on the whole does not change the fact that at least some of those customers purchased vehicles at a profit loss to the dealer.
"[...] chances are you will get a zero-profit or even below-cost deal on your new car"
Let's say I'm a car dealer and I need to sell one more car to get my bonus. Let's say that car cost me $20,000. Let's say the bonus is $100,000. Now let's say I give away the car for free. I still have $80,000 more than I started with at the beginning of the comment.
I'm not sure how your comment contradicts mine. If you get a $100,000 bonus for selling a vehicle, the marginal profit on that vehicle is damn near $100,000. Dealerships don't sell cars for a loss. Of course, that doesn't help the consumer unless the consumer wants that particular model, with the particular options that need to be sold to get the bonus.