I think Tesla is being outcompeted, has fallen behind, and is now going all in on pipe dreams rather than producing a car that competes in quality to other car manufacturers.
I’m not sure it will make a good product, though.
- motors are about the same as their competitors in the same price range
- same with batteries, though they have more US capacity to build batteries. However, there is a ton of domestic battery manufacturing capacity coming online in the next year or two.
- etherloop is better than than canbus, as is 48v on a technical level. But its also currently a competitative disadvantage for Tesla, they are missing out on economies of scale because they can't share components with ICEs. To maintain dominance they need to do a lot better in the budget space.
- full self-driving is vaporware at best, and other manufacturers are catching up to what's actually available -- mercedes is the only level 3 certified brand