an oem established automaker a fiveyear window to say you can totally retool your business and i am going to buy in and fund this journey said mark wakefield coleader of automotive and industrials practice at consulting firm alixpartnersstartups however get time from investors to learn make mistakes and grow he addedinvestors are betting on teslas ability to scale up manufacturing just as they once backed toyota motor corp which defined the auto industrys last era with its mastery of highly efficient highquality lean productiontoyota overtook the market capitalization of former industry leader general motors in 1996 though it wasnt until 2008 that it sold more vehicles than its detroit rivalthe japanese giant also cultivated ties with tesla with the us startup helping it design an electrified rav4 compact sports utility vehicle under a 2010 dealtoyota was impressed by the speed with which tesla came up with the new design but ultimately decided teslas methods were not suitable for mass production by a mainstream manufacturer when toyotas standards for product quality and durability were applied two company insiders familiar with the partnership saidtoyota said the joint project involved cooperation on the development of electric cars parts and production systemtoyota accomplished what the project set out to achieve and it ended in october 2014 after tesla delivered roughly 2500 electric powertrain systems over three years for an electrified rav4 crossover suvs a spokeswoman saidboth the toyota and daimler collaborations were agreed before the volkswagen emissionscheating scandal in 2015 which prompted a global regulatory backlash and forced carmakers to step up investments in electric carsthat was all before dieselgate which changed the economics of electric and combustionengined cars a senior daimler manager said tesla has a lead lets see if they can scale up