This, citing employee numbers is somewhat meaningless without any data on the number of non-employees working in your supply chain. Could indeed very well be a case of outsourcing differences rather than a difference in productivity.

Say what you will about their "antiquated" business practices, but Ford consistently does one thing that Tesla never does: it turns a profit

> have outsourced their sales as well via an antiquated dealer model.

That's not outsourcing, that's distribution. Every industry in the world has similar distribution channels. They still have a large sales department.

so your thinking Tesla isn't buying completed components from third party suppliers? Really? That antiquated dealer model also protects consumers against manufacturers who would otherwise ignore them as large companies can. It also would probably do well against an executive who tends to mock customers (and even lose in court with having to buy cars back)

Sorry, but you don't understand Tesla's manufacturing or that of any automaker. A large amount of the assemblies are outsourced. For the larger companies even drive trains and transmissions can be but that is rare. Ford and GM cooperated on ten speed transmissions recently so that is a benefit of such sourcing.