I don't think that having a tire pressure indicator, that when it failed cost me $400 to fix, offers me any value. In fact it cost me the $400 to fix and the hundreds to install and equip in the new vehicle. Honestly, there are dozens of examples of this. Cars are commoddoties and if not for the insane regulations (and union wages in some states) one could easily offer a base BMW for $25,000 and a Jeep Wrangler for $20,000 or less.
No one regulated that pressure gauge you are complaining about, and no one forced you to buy a car that had one... blaming regulation for things that have nothing to do with regulation is silly and wrong.
I showed you the numbers, you choose to ignore them, thats on you.
Cars today are on par adjusted to inflation to what they were in 1970, and offer a lot more features, some mandated others driven by the market.
Could someone build an absolute base model yugo cheap? Sure... but no one would buy them.. so they don’t make them.
Labor is not a big factor in making cars, even union labor. The rule of thumb is it takes 30 man-hours to make a $30,000 car. You can apply and rate you want to that. Let’s say $50/hr that is $1,500 per car.