[VeejayRampay]

But isn't always the game with ground-breaking technologies though? At first you don't make as much money, but you're laying the road for the big thing. And when the revolution begins, you're the one making the big bucks.

[wott]

Not always at all. Also often, the forerunner disappears when other companies jump in at a later, proven, profitable stage of the technology, when both technology and the market are ready for mass production.

[endymi0n]

This. Ever heard of Myspace? Altavista? When making a market, watch out for well equipped and funded upstarts going to get you. Next victims of their own success: Docker.

[tokipin]

I think in those cases, it was a matter of a better-designed, clearer-headed product taking space from a not-so-well-designed product. That's not what would happen here, because Tesla is already the creme de la creme. In fact, Tesla executing so well is the only reason EVs have seen their recent "resurgence" in the first place. And remember that Tesla isn't the first company to make electric cars.

I also think people underestimate by a lot how hard making new things is. It's not just a matter of coming in with more money. It's almost deceptive on Tesla's part that the cars seem simple. But if it really were so simple the Model S would already have competition. And when you're talking about someone who has raised a company that lands rockets in the middle of the ocean, competitors are fooling themselves if they think even just a superficial copy is going to be easy. This is something they have to bring their A game to at all levels.

[Avshalom]

It's pretty much been the story of Apple.

[tonyedgecombe]

Or else they just buy the upstart.

[kagamine]

Look back at 100 years of automobile manufacturing. The big companies we have today are the survivors. As recently as this century, Rover Group, a company that was around for a century and made a great product ceased to be.

The tax perks in many countries that have buoyed up Tesla sales are ending. So perhaps manufacturers don't see now as a good time to enter a market containing risk. Better to wait it out and plan accordingly.

[tonyedgecombe]

Rover group and British Leyland as they were made some terrible products.

[kagamine]

They had some excellent ones too. Rover 600 & 75 were good cars. Many major manufacturers have had life-threatening failures in recent years resulting in recalls. Some surviving brands were much, much worse than Rover Group at quality. Lancia still exist, Alfa Romeo exist. Fiat in the 1980s, no thanks, I'm not paying for rust.

[tonyedgecombe]

The Italian cars did rust at the slightest hint of damp weather but you soon forgot about that when you got behind the wheel. They had flair, style and driver engagement in abundance.

When I look back at the Rovers my dad drove they were as dull as dishwater and very poor quality.

[jacquesm]

'The parts falling off this car are of the very finest British manufacture.'