The answer is, there’s no future in serving tiny niches. Due to economies of scale it makes sense to target larger segments. Kinda like a government trying to please everyone.
I, and I suspect many others, would still pay $40K for a specialty base model which would only cost $30K if it sold in mass-market quantities.
Large companies in oligopolic positions won't try to produce those sorts of products, because it's risky and they have no reason to innovate or seek untapped markets.
It feels like it would be possible if we could incentivize competition and disincentive consolidation, though. Not just in the auto market, either.
"The Homer" -- https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/The_Homer