I don't think it's absurd either, but I think Tesla was the wrong company to try to do it in 2016-2018. Musk and everyone else agrees that Model 3 is a do-or-di

I don't think it's absurd either, but I think Tesla was the wrong company to try to do it in 2016-2018. Musk and everyone else agrees that Model 3 is a do-or-die time for Tesla, and the financial picture for Tesla looks dire as it is sitting on a sea of red ink from an enormous burn rate financed by bond debt. That is not a situation in which to take a likely profitable but unnecessary systemic risk which imperils the entire Model 3 program by its nature. If GM or Toyota tried an experimental lights-out factory, it's not going to potentially kill them. For Tesla, that's a possibility.