The Roadster used a Lotus chassis. It was more like an EV conversion than a new production model.

That's true, but it was heavily hand assembled with a pretty terrible design that doesn't seem like it could have been sustainable. They only built about 2,500 units over 4 years and cancelled it when they finally got their first sedan into production.

I'm not sure that this was actually better than the Rivian scenario, since Rivian actually has a van, truck, and a large SUV in the early stages of production during their first year. Its a pretty ambitious move, tbh.

Of course, Rivian has the advantage of being a second mover. Tesla had to work a lot harder to get the batteries sorted out back in 2007.

Dude, what you should take away is that there is money to throw around. A lot of fucking money.

Which is not going into our pockets as employees.

Remember that, next time you ask for a raise.