I think the iPhone analogy is very apt here. It may have taken a company like Tesla to make electric cars a practical reality, but once they make the leap copycats will have no trouble following along and wind up taking the majority market share. Apple was there first, and indeed no one even thought an iPhone-esque device was possible pre-Apple, but yet Android owns the lion's share of the market now.

I also think maintaining a distinctly 1990s view re: incumbent car companies is potentially strategically disastrous. After the near-collapse of the US car industry, saved by the grace of the government, we've seen a dramatic and near-miraculous turnaround.

Ford went from making cars nobody wanted and burning money at a prodigious rate, to profitable and actually building cars that sell well. It is a common refrain to portray the automotive industry as constantly tripping over their own incompetence and baggage, but the reality is that after their near-death experience they've proven their ability to fight, survive, and even prosper.

Tesla may be on top, and they may be the most visionary of the companies on the playing field, but there are many, many perfectly competent competitors yet, who are far more experienced in factors that Tesla has yet to contend with - i.e., the economics of economy cars.