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This.
The treads on car tyres are to channel away water, not provide grip. Bikes are slower and have narrower tyres, so aquaplaning is not an issue.
As you say, uninformed customers equate tread with grip so that's why budget tyres have treads.
Unless you're riding in mud or snow, a tread on a bike tyre provides less grip: less rubber on the road and very chunky treads can squirm when cornering.
Scilly.Suffolk
Bikes have too narrow tyres to aquaplane so don't need tread. I suspect manufacturers put it there because they think customers used to car tyres expect a tyre to have tread.
I wouldn't be surprised if tyres with tread actually have less grip in the wet.