Because there isn’t any money in designing a no-frills car. Designing a brand new car and starting a brand new brand is crazy expensive so it makes sense to target the luxury market since sales will be limited.
Not to mention, when most people look at a car with manual everything and realize for $10/month more they can have power everything... they go for the car with power everything. So, dealers order their inventory accordingly.
Ability to resell low trim models is also terrible. Nobody wants to buy a base model car when for a couple hundred bucks or maybe a grand more they can get the nicer stuff.
