This is because Tesla has managed to make a cheap car look expensive and desirable, so they have lovely profit margins. Traditional manufacturers have expectations based on their existing lineup – won’t be easy to pass off a no-dashboard plastic interior as elegant when you’ve got a reputation for a more complete interior. That costs money, and with the underlying technology still so expensive it means traditional manufacturers have to lose a lot of money just to hit the same price point Tesla is at.

Either they convince people it’s worth it to pay more, or they try the same trick as Tesla and hope they develop their own fan club, or they wait it out and hope that people start to decide minimal and elegant is actually just cheap, rattly, and loud.

Can’t really blame them for not wanting to face Tesla head on. But they don’t have much of a choice.