Maybe. Without a broad consensus from all the involved individuals at Chevy, we'll never know. Were they looking more at the (first edition at the time?) Leaf or the hypothetical and probably unnamed at the time "Tesla mass market model with X miles range and $Y price tag?"

If they were aiming for the Leaf, it appears they got to market faster and better (specs) than the 2018 Leaf. A little surprising from Chevy (when compared to Nissan), particularly since they didn't really have a first edition to build on themselves.

If they were aiming for the Model 3 - they got to market faster and "at least in the ballpark" spec-wise, AND at much much higher volumes than Tesla. To me this is less surprising. A mass-market car producer could get to market with a high-volume car faster than Tesla? And in higher volumes? That isn't so surprising. It would have surprised me _even less_ if Toyota had done it, though they clearly weren't trying. It does surprise me a little that Nissan hasn't, though it is fairly clear that they aren't trying _hard_.