I think you misunderstand - they can charge slightly less for the car, and not actually charge you for that bit of hardware, if they're monetizing it differently.
No, I understand what you're saying. But they absolutely aren't doing that and there's no way they were eating the hardware cost as a loss-leader on future recurring revenue. The buyers paid for the hardware and then needed to pay for software to enable it.
Vehicle pricing is entirely a market decision, and targets a certain profit margin. You will absolutely have less profit margin on something where you believe you can make up that revenue on a subscription.