Let me explain something about the automotive industry, most car companies do not R&D their own vehicles. They outsource it to another company, whether that be Bosch in Germany for all of the electronics and safety systems or Takata in Japan for similar systems. This has led to a mess for these companies to try to adapt to vertically integrated upstarts like Rivian, Tesla etc... These so called competitors are still trying to get their houses in order regarding reshoring and centralizing of parts supply. Jim Farley of Ford has talked about this openly and transparently which is why Ford is miles ahead of the other US OEM's, they have identified the problem and are sorting it out.
None of the points such as this that I made 6 months ago have been proven incorrect, the Tesla model Y is the top selling car on the planet. This is a fact, it is not arguable of contextualizable it simply is. This will most likely change as you cited BYD is coming to eat everyone's lunch because of course they are as they're the beneficiary of the rather interesting Chinese system. I mentioned BYD in several comments many months ago as I follow the Australian automotive sector quite closely as it is an excellent microcosm for the Western markets as a whole being a commonwealth country close at hand to Chinese markets.
I read all citations folks spend time directing my way, it is the only responsible option.
I never said a prius or certainly you're prius was a "girly" car, I said it was a "geeky" car in general reference to where it was perceived in the market by the general public and that Tesla (as lead by Musk) changed the public perception of EV's toward being the desirable sexy option for the future consumer. I personally don't care about how a vehicle is perceived, as I've mentioned I was the guy showing up at weekend auto cross events in a 2007 Toyota Corolla stick shift from 2008 till 2013 (when I bought my gently used 2009 C class stick shift).
My Father is a retired Electrical Engineer who worked for Newfoundland Light and power for nearly 50 years from 1970 to 2016 during which the provincial grid was completely modernized with the basis being hydro electricity as well as being privatized like all Canadian infrastructure of note in this period. His 3 favorite quotes which my sister and I heard many thousands of times are as follows:
"When you assume you make an *** out of you and me."
"I do wish we could be better strangers."
"Do endeavor not to speak so loosely."
That last one is the foundation for my response style and likely what has most shaped my neurocognitive space. Which begs the question of how could I even tolerate someone like Musk? The answer is that he is a necessary evil to shake loose the complacency and stagnation in the industries he occupies. If he just stopped posting anything publicly we would all be more content in the tech enthusiast space but we'd also be rather more blind to the complete lack of innovation happening in most spaces.
My glasses are blueish, which is my preferred cant though it is always open to change based upon new data sets.
Musk has referred to Tesla as his child and Henry Ford named the Edsel after his son so I suppose there's a connection there. One didn't sell and the other can't be manufactured fast enough though so there's that.