I've been doing some interesting reading on Gulf States Toyota (GST) and Southeast Toyota Distributors (SET), the only two Toyota distributors that are not wholly owned subsidiaries of Toyota Motor Sales, USA (TMS). This arrangement exists because of an investment that certain individuals made to establilsh dealerships throughout the Southeast and Southwest when Toyota was not established in the U.S.
Decades (and billions of dollars) later, customers in these two regions are left with a system which involves a middleman that adds "port installed options" (PIO) that are of questionable value, often not Toyota accessories, and are often more mandatory than optional. While dealers may have some latitude about preferencing trucks without some of these PIOs, it certainly isn't going to happen very easily with very new models. There are some positive inventory management and other benefits to these distribution systems, however, they mostly relate to convenience of purchase rather than reducing costs.