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I'd wager it has more to do with portability than anything else.

Stealing a car is an order of magnitude more difficult than stealing a bike. A bike can be stolen in seconds (even with the best locks). Stealing a locked car with modern anti-theft protection will likely take minutes for even the most skilled thief.

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But the cars have expensive components that can be taken in seconds - fuel door broken and fuel siphoned, hood latch broken and battery or alternator stolen, valuables in cabin and boot. No need to move the vehicle to profit off it.

And indeed in my city where bicycle theft is very common, so are smash and grabs and catalytic converter theft against cars with high-value catalytic converters (anything that meets CARB's poorly named Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle standard, so all hybrids, Subarus, and some others).

Those things happen at scales too.

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