How does the process of buying a customized new car on the brand's website work?
Dealers  Repeating the other answers, the franchise agreements and/or state laws require all brands, except Tesla, sell through a franchised dealer. Order vs Lot  Generally, most Americans buy a vehicle off the lot of a dealer. The online configuration tool will offer to find a similarly configured vehicle in inventory. If you do not like any of the vehicles available, you can order it. You do this through the salesperson of a dealer. An ordered vehicle can nominally take 2-3 months to arrive. However, due to various reasons, including COVID-related microchip shortages, demand from rental car fleets, and the fact that summer is around the time of the model year changeover, it may be difficult to order. Manufacturers are simply not taking any dealer orders on many models. Price  You will generally pay significantly more than the MSRP of the base, i.e. absolute cheapest configuration. However, price you pay for a car configured will be the configured MSRP from the website-fixed manufacturer discounts-negotiation+freight and dealer fees+tax and registration. Traditionally, the negotiation factor is substantial on all vehicles. (Tesla is an exception where negotiation isn't allowed, as well as a few specific dealers.) However, due to COVID, high-demand pickup trucks, certain sports cars (Corvette) and some specific cars, have no negotiation room right now, which is an exceptional circumstance. Very roughly, MSRP out the door is reasonable. That is, fixed discounts+negotiation = freight and dealer fees+taxes and registration. States have different regulations and market conditions setting dealer fees, and taxes and registration fees vary by state and county. Many websites will give you an average price of what people are currently paying, prior to fees and taxes. The dealer should be able to easily provide an out-the-door price for budgeting and to begin negotiations. Internet sales  In terms of delivery, you could always negotiate over the phone and e-mail. Some dealers liked it and were good at it, some basically refused to. Most people visited at least one dealer to examine and test drive a car, then negotiated with dealers within, e.g. a 100 mile radius. COVID forced all dealers to adopt remote deals. After purchase, if you are a reasonable distance from a dealer, they should be happy to send a shuttle or deliver the vehicle, something that was true prior to COVID.