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Comment by golfer | Hacker News Reader

Tesla is not a startup! It's been in business for 18 years.

In the context of the auto industry, it absolutely is.

  Peugeot - 1889
  Daimler - 1890
  Fiat - 1899
  Renault - 1899
  Buick - 1903
  Ford - 1903
  Rolls-Royce - 1904
  General Motors - 1908
  Alfa Romeo - 1910
  Dodge - 1910
  Chevrolet - 1911
  Aston Martin - 1913
  Maserati - 1914
  Mitsubishi - 1917
  Bentley - 1919
  Citroen - 1919
  Chrysler - 1925
  Mercedes-Benz - 1926 (1883 if you include Benz & Cie.)
  Nissan - 1934
  Jaguar - 1935
  Toyota - 1937
  Jeep - 1941
  Ferrari - 1947
  Honda - 1948
  Land Rover - 1948
  Lotus - 1952
  Suzuki - 1956
  Subaru - 1958
  Mini - 1959
  Mazda - 1960
  Tesla - 2003

And this is explaining why Tesla ignored more than century worth of automotive mass production knowledge again? Because they are a start-up?

Regardless of our disagreements on Tesla -- this is a great list and really interesting to see all these OEMs, in order. Thanks for this good stuff. Upvoted.

I didn't know Peugeot was the oldest of the gang!

    Detroit Electric - 1907

The granddaddy of electric cars which out-produced everyone.

Nissan finally caught up in 2010.

Tesla didn't outproduce it until 2012.

Depends on your definition. I think they qualify as a startup because they're still in their hockey-stick growth phase.

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