When I look at Tesla one thing that stands out to me is how big it's vision is. This is admirable - we do all like ambitious companies after all - but what subsequently puzzles me about Tesla is it's approach to that ambition. More specifically, the amount it allocates to be spent on research and development. To explain my point, let's have a meander through the car world to gather up some rough financial comparisons between manufacturers. At the base of the tree you have your upstart luxury car manufacturers like Aston Martin - and Aston Martin spend a plucky $450-550m a year on R&D in their bid to play a role in the luxury part of the market. The cars that result are pretty, but only serve part of a small part of the wider market. And even within the luxury car segment there are levels - and the top spot within that segment is held by The Daddy of the luxury car market - Ferrari. With a market cap of $76b and an R&D spend of about $1bn, Ferrari have always reaped ...