Tesla's Peers Aren't Auto Manufacturers

Tesla's promise is not from auto manufacturing... which is to say, it's promise (and risk) goes well beyond those little boxes we drive in that take us from the box we live in, to the box we work in, and then back. Tesla is an alternative energy company with what appears to be (for now) the best technology in the world by a lot. The technology is so good that Elon Musk decided to make cars. I believe he will make much more than that in the future. Here's an image which shows all auto manufacturers in the world with market caps larger than $15B. On the x-axis we have revenue, 1-year growth %, and on the y-axis we have gross profit, 1-year growth %. There's TSLA and then there's everybody else. [TSLA1] So now we say, "but outlier growth doesn't mean it's not in the same peer group." That's true, what makes it a different peer group would be operational measures like the amount spent on research & development or... how much is spent on capital expenditures relative to total revenue. Well, let's do that, with former on the y-axis and the latter on the x-axis. [TSLA2] Again... TSLA isn't a car manufacturer... or at the very least, it's a new, different sector of car manufacturer. I'm not saying good or bad, but I am saying, rather abruptly... DIFFERENT.