Unfortunately, this is anecdotal information as my professor, he had worked at Ford, in our finance engineering class made a lecture that raw materials and labor for a vehicle would be $1,000. The additional costs are from tooling, r&d, and other items that ensure a profit margin for the company. I have very unreliable page here: http://www.answers.com/Q/How_much_does_it_cost_to_manufactur...

I tried to find additional information to back up this claim through the web, sadly, sources will either be: 1. Sales representatives within car sales pointing to an invoice sheet from the manufacturer showing a percent difference or dollar difference, but this would include the tooling, r&d, and operation costs. http://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/2bvxn5/how_much_does_i...) 2. Manufacturers who make statements about profitability. http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/how-much-does-a-new-... 3.

You can find further information about how the $40,000 Volt obfuscates its costs: http://www.treehugger.com/cars/how-much-does-chevy-volt-cost...