"Who the hell cares if I can get a radio station from thousands of miles away "
Most AM radio listening is to local stations. MW propagation can range a few thousand miles, but it's somewhat unusual.
And not the point of the defense of AM radio in automobiles. Timely information, emergency information, AM is still a popular option, and listenership is not decreasing.
"just buy a radio'. Huh, so that handheld radio would not suffer from interference (Hams call it WRM, but it is really RFI) just like the build in unit? The real problem here is that automobile manufacturers do not want to solve the RFI issues. It is expensive. And complex. And not unreasonable. The AM radio in my Prius does not suffer form RFI, and there is an inverter and HV drive system in there. Tesla etc. will have to employ serious engineers to show then where they went wrong. A Herculean effort? I bet not.
ps - Duke sucks.