That's a theory, but it's not sufficiently convincing to take on faith. There are a lot of different kind of expertise and capacity necessary to create a great

That's a theory, but it's not sufficiently convincing to take on faith. There are a lot of different kind of expertise and capacity necessary to create a great car, from styling or marketing and sales, to interiors, seats, tires, and so on, that have nothing to do with the difference between a gas and electric means of powering the vehicle. At a casual glance it appears that the real genuinely thorny problem with EV production is coming up with a workable battery system and producing it at scale. Which to be sure is challenging and Tesla has a head start, but it's still just a component in a much larger supply and production chain. I'm not convinced an electric four door sedan is "more different" from a current gas four door sedan than a diesel cargo van is, and the company is adept at producing both of those. It's not obvious that figuring out how to make a reasonable electric car factory in Bavaria is more of a stretch for the company than building SUV's the American south. These successful integrated car companies already adapt a lot as it is. The idea that they just don't have it in them to swap out a gas engine for some batteries and motors doesn't really match reality as far as I can tell.