Dealerships are a low margin business but it's a little better than just spread over invoice. There is also a "holdback" which is essentially an additional margin from the OEM to the dealer. In the case of BMW there are two components, a regular holdback and a compliance incentive. For anyone who has every owned a BMW, or even just serviced one, you get the customer service survey call asking you to rate the service on various dimensions from 1 to 5. You have probably had BMW sales or service reps tell you to expect this call and beg and plead for you to give them "fives" across the board. The reason for this is the additional margin they get on the sale/service which is contingent on them maintaining a customer satisfaction level.