Depends what you view as the core competency of an automaker. Tesla has large leads in battery technology, software, and electric drivetrains. But they suck a

Depends what you view as the core competency of an automaker. Tesla has large leads in battery technology, software, and electric drivetrains. But they suck at manufacturing and quality control. Meanwhile Japanese & Korean automakers like Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Subaru, etc. have spent literally decades perfecting manufacturing, QC, supply chain management, etc. It's a question of whether you can see legacy automakers catching up on the "electric" part before Tesla perfects the "car" part. IMHO I think Tesla's strongest moat is in the battery technology and production capacity. Electric drivetrain components are a commodity, and Toyota etc. have had them for 2 decades with their hybrids. Software is also hard, and Tesla understands that more than legacy automakers - but actual software companies like Google & Apple are now getting into the auto business and selling their software solutions to automaker OEMs, and they can do a much more compelling software product than Tesla can. Doing QC, supply chains, and manufacturing right is harder than most startups think, and that's where Tesla really falls down. Also, personally I won't buy any Tesla product other than the PowerWall (where they actually do have a strong competitive advantage and solid manufacturing). Heard too many horror stories about their cars, their solar panels, their solar panel installation, their roofs, their self-driving car software, etc. Quality issues early on become very persistent brand issues, and it's hard to change the perception of selling an unreliable product once ingrained. (Interestingly, sometimes you don't have to - people buy BMWs and Ferraris despite them having shit reliability records. Sometimes because they have shit reliability records - being able to afford a BMW and its repairs is a mark of having income & time to spare. But that automatically locks you into the luxury Veblen-goods market; you'll never sell to hassled parents if they keep hearing stories about how your products are unsafe, have manufacturing defects, and require frequent repairs.)