Forward Observer:
First, if you do not like what I say or how I say it then feel free to block me. FYI ~ I finally blocked my brother as he has spewed hatred towards me his entire adult life ~ sad to say. Save your energy for better things in life ~ you only get one try during this lifetime.
I am older than dirt or as the army old timers used to say JC was a corporal when they knew him. I always wanted to say that, but by the time I could, I had moved on in rank.
When I was a teenager, Ford and GM ruled the earth or at least the US. VW came into the picture as a child following WWII. Toys from Japan were looked down upon, but readily available and cheap/inexpensive.
If you look at history from the perspective of what really happened vs what someone else says, say a self proclaimed expert, Ford and GM have lost significant market share since my early days. I deliberately have not purchased either vehicles because of the loudly proclaimed story about a coke bottle being left inside the door of an American made car. That was management framing labor or labor framing management for one reason or another ~ bottom line, it cost them forever my money. My/our first new car was a VW beetle, and second was a Toyota. VW pee pee's me off and I demanded and got a repainting of the car. Talk about a ticked off regional German manager. Toyota led the way for me. Later Volvo took over due to safety touting and first hand accounts.
Toyota took over and laid both Ford and GM in the dust. Remember now I learned to drive before seat belts, and smooth roads. I used to stand over the transmission hump in the back seat area and yell "whee" as my mom or dad drove through a dip in the road. Then I got my butt handed to me by my wife when I demanded she wear a seat belt ~ I have always put safety first.
Soooo, when GM or Toyota vocalize looking down a long nose stating Tesla is going to fail or they are just a niche car ~ take a long swig of your canned beer and think again. VW is the only automaker to purchase a Model S and dismantle it ~ reverse engineer. Toyota put a relative (VP) in charge of electric vehicles, and have never gone beyond a plug-in Prius ~ the plug-in was generated by consumers. GM now loudly proclaims they are going all electric by 2039. If they had said by 2025 back in 2010 and shown me the gigafactory for battery production I would have given it more than changing of presidents ~ a real thought. Up until 20Jan21 GM was died in the wool fossil fuel. Go figure.
Elon played horseshoes in 2020, just missed the mark on deliveries; I think he hit it on cars produced. He upped the ante for 2021 by aiming for 50% increase.
What is the Ford, GM, VW and Toyota market share today vs 1973 and where will it be once Tesla matures?
FYI ~ got a nice phone call from PUD3 here in the Northwest last week. They offered to pay me $900 +/- or reduce my electric bill monthly by $100 for 2021/2022 (includes charging our Model X). Not bad since the sun angle and trees get in the way of production and our state no longer pays an incentive. I installed solar because of who I am vs profit.