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Originally Posted by Viffermike
No it's not. Good lord. You're comparing a product that's only been viable for 13 years or so (that's when the first smartphones came out ... remember the Palm Treo?) to a product that's been around for well more than a century.
Please realize this: Tesla is not a carmaker. It's an energy company that happens to be using cars as a development platform. Is it a lifestyle brand right now? Very much so. Will it be in 15 years? I doubt it, because what Tesla will make in 2031 (or thereabouts) will be used in other products or by other products that will transcend lifestyles. Even Apple couldn't achieve that kind of market saturation with hardware (though it definitely wanted to, particularly with the iPod).
Also, you seem to conveniently forget that other CE makers have filled the void left by BlackBerry, Nokia, etc.: Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola, et. al.
All the Model 3 will do is open the door for an avenue for other manufacturers to walk down regarding affordable and practical EVs. The Model 3 will simply be first to market -- and, if I'm not mistaken, products that are first to market rarely end up remaining the best in that market (though it does happen: Mazda Miata is one example.)
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Correction.... That will be the Chevy Bolt. It will beat the Model 3 to the market by 12 months only if Tesla meets it production deadlines and price point, which its history says most likely will not happen.
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A manual transmission can be set to "comfort", "sport", and "track" modes simply by the technique and speed at which you shift it; it doesn't need "modes", modes are for manumatics that try to behave like a real 3-pedal manual transmission. If you can money-shift it, it's a manual transmission. "Yeah, but NO ONE puts an automatic trans shift knob on a manual transmission."