When I worked in the auto industry the Ford auditor we worked with said labour was the highest cost in production.

Of course they'd say that, but what's the % when you remove the C levels and upper management? They're your real labour cost, and they never admit to it. The people putting vehicles together are absolutely a cost to each vehicle, but they're not so expensive that it made medium sized cars starting point $45,000+.

Materials were on the low end of the scale.

This is entirely unsurprising.

However its now also the amount of bullshit they piled into the car now. Like rear entertainment and separate climate controls, all the electronics for everything, all the add on a etc.

The fluff is how they increase prices to the consumer, because at the end of the day consumers are pretty stupid and will buy gimmicky bullshit