US solipsism is part of the problem - you can't exactly write an article about phone companies making cars and entirely ignore what Huawei and Xiaomi have achieved. These two Chinese companies did not ignore traditional auto expertise but certainly recognised that it was about the battery and the software rather than the engine. Apple's failure is about supply chain - inexcusable considering they already have a China supply chain for Apple products. Cook got distracted by AR / VR and followed Zuckerberg down the Metaverse blackhole when he should've just bought a middle Chinese EV maker (there are hundreds!), rebranded it and bang out some EV's.
"should've just bought a middle Chinese EV maker (there are hundreds!), rebranded it and bang out some EV's."
That's a very un-Apple business model and wouldn't have brought the success they wanted. Apple certainly isn't looking to "bang out some EVs."