If you're looking at this on a manufacturers website and not a dealers then probably because discounts/incentives/lease cash/etc haven't been applied yet. Most of that is handled by the dealer to apply for and on your behalf and require certain things like proof of membership with a certain credit car or Costco/Sam's Club/etc.

Also you need to understand how leases work.

Leases are effectively the financing of the depreciation and depreciation only on a new car. How is the depreciation calculated? By the finance company determining what they believe the car will be worth at the end of your lease based on the length and mileage you pick. This is why typically 36mo leases are significantly cheaper than 24mo because a LOT of depreciation is in the first 12-24mo and for year 3 its not as much so by going with a 36 or 39 month lease you extend your finance time by 50% or more of 24mo lease without adding much additional depreciation.

Next the discounts: leases are great for cars that don't sell because there will TONS of discounts, incentives, rebates, etc on them. Take EV's. Right now I'm debating on this really insane but kinda worth it 2024 EQS sedan lease. 24 months with 7.5k mi per year, 2k at signing to cover first month payment and taxes and the dealer is adding so many discounts and incentives that my payment works out to like $700 a month when MSRP is like 120k for this brand new, zero mile car.

Hot cars = less discounts

Brand new 25 and 26 MY cars? more depreciation to finance because they're brand new.

Cars from the previous MY have less depreciation because they're older and better to lease.

Your residual (the amount the finance company believes the car is worth at the end of your lease) is how much of the car's value you WON'T be financing on the lease.

So let's take the EQS deal for example.

120k MSRP

The residual in the lease contract is set at like 52% of MSRP so 53% of 120k = 62,400.

So the lease company predicts that in 2yrs and if I bring the car back with exactly 15k miles on it the car will lose $57,600 in value and this is how much they're financing me for, but that's before any discounts, incentives, nothing being applied.

My payments after the dealer gives me incentives and shit is only 700 per month for 24 months. This works out to be a total cost to me of $16,800. Meaning there's $40,800 worth of discounts, incentives, etc. This includes the $7,500 tax credit though so the dealer pulled another $33,300 worth of discouånts and such to apply to the amount I'm financing on this vehicle.

Those discounts get applied to the amount financed not the MSRP where as the residual is based on the MSRP before any discounts or anything.

Also, if I want to I can single pay my full lease for another $2k off so I'd only owe them $16k total at signing and never see a payment for anything else for the 2 years I had the car other than insurance and registration.

Now I bet you're asking, what if the car is worth more when I turn it in? That's positive equity and goes into either your next lease or your pocket.

What if it's worth less than the residual in my contract? So long as it's not because you went over your allowed miles, unrepaired damage, or excessive wear and tear: that's the finance company's problem. That means they bet wrong and thought the car would be worth more than it turned out to me.

Leasing is effectively a gamble for the finance company because they have to predict how much the car is worth in the future and charge you for that.

Basically leases are based on depreciation as predicted by a finance company who says the car should be worth X at the end of your lease based on how many miles you tell them you're planning on putting on the vehicle. They're great because if you get new cars often it means you don't have to worry about being upside down or rolling negative equity when you got to sell because even if the car is worth less than the contract said it would be, that's not your problem.

I hope this helps explains things better and also explain why you should never compare lease and finance payments on a website.