Seems like you answered your own question. Tesla realizes that other makers are at least perceived to be better at making actual cars. It's immaterial whether t

Seems like you answered your own question. Tesla realizes that other makers are at least perceived to be better at making actual cars. It's immaterial whether that's actually true (though I personally happen to believe it is) because perception is what matters in the market. Therefore, continuing to focus on cars is a losing strategy. They're pivoting to their only real long-term differentiator, which is the charging network and the hardware that connects to it. The interesting question here IMO is when they made that choice.