Wow, I've heard of some weird azz sh!t from car dealers but that's a first! I think the Rio probably had next to no profit margin on it which meant he would get a low commision, $100 - $200. The Spectra or Optima have a lot more features that can add profit margin so would bump his commision up. Remember they get 25% AFTER the dealer makes it's cost back, plus PAC. So a Rio might have a $500.00 dealer profit, plus holdback from manufacturer so the salesman would get the bare minimum commision. The other cars have 1-3k profit in them, which means $250 - $750 in commision. That is definately one of the slimiest things I've ever heard. The desk must not have needed to sell any more of the Rios and were pushing hard to get rid of the others.