> You're basically asking: Does the dealer's negotiation reduce prices to consumers more than their cuts increase it. I don't think so, at least not for Tesla.

> You're basically asking: Does the dealer's negotiation reduce prices to consumers more than their cuts increase it. I don't think so, at least not for Tesla. What do you mean "at least not for Tesla." Don't they famously lack dealers, so there's no point of comparison for them? > as middleman will happily arbitrage prices upwards (see GPU scalpers) That's certainly true for some middlemen, but I don't think that can be generalized into a rule. Naively, some people think that everyone in a market should act like price gougers, but that's obviously not true, and I don't think the the reason is that there's something special about being the original manufacturer.