Manufacturing cost for Lego pieces is relatively high, though, given the effort they put into keeping precise amounts of 'clutch power' for every brick.
This becomes clear when you use any of the cheaper alternatives.
Yeah I tried it once, buying off-brand legos from Ebay. It's truly night and day in terms of quality.
Actually they're getting much better. I bought some off-brand Lego from aliexpress a couple of years ago, and apart from the lack of branding I can't tell the difference, even after two years of use.
Yeah, the reviews say offbrand tires are absolute crap but that is only element that has noticeable quality issues. Not so sure about electronic/pneumatic.
Not true nowadays, e.g try COGO. I'd say, the grip is even stronger compared to Lego, even after long time use.