That sales comparison you're using is based on the assumption that the Model S competes with large luxury cars, and it ignores the overlap between similar models (e.g., S-class and CLS). On features and price however, the Model S more closely competes with midsize luxury cars. I think the Model S is unique and looking at either large or midsize comparibles alone isn't informative, but I think it's closer to midsize than large.

The i3 is efficient not because it is tiny, but because it is light weight. Weight reduction is hard and it is a lesson Tesla has yet to learn.

> The simple fact is that the Germans know if they put out an EV sedan or SUV, they will cannibalize their own market share and their investments in combustion engine manufacturing, which are massive, will be lost.

They haven't put out an EV sedan or SUV yet because the market isn't profitable yet. The trend for engines has long been towards becoming a commodity sourced from elsewhere and tuned in-house or a scalable design, i.e., except for models where the engine is a selling point you're not investing your money in engines. As to cannibalizing their own sales, I don't understand your point.