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Rnd is a barrier and so is the supply chain.
Nowadays nearly all automakers depend heavily on their suppliers.
The reason why the business for suppliers to automakers is somewhat more stable is due to the level of stickiness.
It is just very difficult to swap suppliers or qualify a new one. I.e. you can only go to Bosch(the last I checked is no.1 supplier) or Continental for certain parts.
Qualification to be a supplier is extremely tedious and part approval is another nightmare, I have worked through the entire process and it is not easy nor swift.
Hyundai may have vastly improved the quality of their cars over time(not a short period) but even then they are still behind in quality and many aspects. (Gap is narrowed nevertheless) They are able to achieve a low cost as their quality standards are much lower than traditional German autos or even GM. Even the Korean engineers who work for the car makers acknowledge this fact. In a country like Singapore(and in many other countries), durability makes little difference as many people scrap their cars much earlier than the intended life time it is designed for.
The point is that Tesla has already pulled off something really difficult even though they took a number of years to do it. To give you an idea, tesla started in 2003 and right at this moment is struggling with production issues with Model 3, their first "mass market" car which is already incredible by auto standards. Start ups in china is extremely unlikely to catch up anytime soon, that, I am quite certain. To design and make an electric car is relatively easy. To make it at a high level, meeting all safety and quality standards and mass produce it is more than just difficult.
Nowadays nearly all automakers depend heavily on their suppliers.
The reason why the business for suppliers to automakers is somewhat more stable is due to the level of stickiness.
It is just very difficult to swap suppliers or qualify a new one. I.e. you can only go to Bosch(the last I checked is no.1 supplier) or Continental for certain parts.
Qualification to be a supplier is extremely tedious and part approval is another nightmare, I have worked through the entire process and it is not easy nor swift.
Hyundai may have vastly improved the quality of their cars over time(not a short period) but even then they are still behind in quality and many aspects. (Gap is narrowed nevertheless) They are able to achieve a low cost as their quality standards are much lower than traditional German autos or even GM. Even the Korean engineers who work for the car makers acknowledge this fact. In a country like Singapore(and in many other countries), durability makes little difference as many people scrap their cars much earlier than the intended life time it is designed for.
The point is that Tesla has already pulled off something really difficult even though they took a number of years to do it. To give you an idea, tesla started in 2003 and right at this moment is struggling with production issues with Model 3, their first "mass market" car which is already incredible by auto standards. Start ups in china is extremely unlikely to catch up anytime soon, that, I am quite certain. To design and make an electric car is relatively easy. To make it at a high level, meeting all safety and quality standards and mass produce it is more than just difficult.