One thought is that they're being dishonest, but another thought is them choosing a different way to make money. Yeah, a little tricky, but not really dishonest to me.
I recently had a deal on the table and they also jacked up the MF saying they do that to make money. I had already negotiated a $1K dealer discount beyond Circle A and that was enough for me to move forward with lease talk. I would have had to fly out of state and go through the pain of registering an out of state vehicle in CA (not fun) and deal with the risks of the car not being what was described. I told the dealer that the increased MF basically negated the $1K discount and we were back to standard Circle A pricing. They refused to reduce the MF and for that and other reasons, I walked away. It was just enough to make me flip back to waiting for a 2020.
The thing I didn't understand was that if I paid cash for the car or got my own loan, they would not have been able to profit from the MF. Is it that much extra work to process a lease vs a purchase? Enough work that they need to jack up the MF by $1K to make up for it? I don't know... apparently the answer was yes for this dealer.
We are late enough in the model year that I'll need a GREAT deal to get a 2019. True there are not a lot of changes for 2020, but the negatives of these cars sitting on lots for nearly a year or more and some being test driven 100 miles or more (maybe hard miles) just doesn't sit well with me. It's not so bad that I can't be bought, but I need a SWEET deal to accept that!
If it weren't for r_spec and Circle A, I'd have a completely different outlook on getting a 2019 because you can basically negotiate Circle A at this time without even having Circle A. But having Circle A and getting a 2020 at that price, it's much easier to wait and skip the negotiating. Waiting also gets me a 4-button console and a power trunk!