Actually it’s not at all like that my friend.
In fashion design, there are no tooling costs, in automotive design, the tooling costs are astronomical, a simple observation.
The car sketches you usually see are the start of the process. The exploratory initial sketches where everything is in it’s ideal form in both the exterior and interior. For some reason the skill level has always been super high in trans.
As the process moves on the design becomes more and more realistic. The from is broken down into the individual parts, and each thing (tail light, door handle, ect) is designed for manufacture and detailed. Some companies are better at this than others. The initial sketches for the Beetle and Golf are eerily close to the product. A good designer sees it through. Someone else is NOT doing the figuring out. I have a book on Porsche design showing sketches for the speedometer needles, a car is really a orchestration of many individual products, each with their own function.
A car has four wheels an doors and glass every time. This functional consistancy is not unlike what goes on in watch design where the last true functional breakthrough was digital decades ago. Or eyewear, footwear, or tableware. Are these designers just like fashion designers too? How about toasters, they all do the same thing right? Isn’t that just fashion design then?
A car is an exciting emotional product to work on, and if that enthusiasim by the designers translates into beautiful drawings, cool. When was the last time you saw a rendering of an icecream scooper that moved you? These purchases are on a different level, and unlike clothing where you have a whole closet full (another difference from fashion my friend), chances are you only get one chance to make that purchase every few years (unless you are Bruce Wayne). The function of the form, its psycological effect, is very import in this decision making proccess with the consumer. Car buyers fantasize about their purchase, like longing for a Noguchi cofee table, except a lot more people know what a Ferrari is.
A lot of time is put into design research, ergonomics, and consumer targeting. It’s not just pretty pictures. Really if you have skill, drawing a car is easy, drawing the right car is pretty damn hard. I hope this answers the question, I don’t want to seem rude, but the previous post seemed like a product designer who never understood car design.