Comment by mschuster91

> It doesn't seem in the car company's interests to take on the reputational risk for this kind of financial reward.

Tell that to Boeing, they're on course to tank the entire company out of the financial shenanigans they pulled after 1997.

As soon as a company goes publicly traded, the incentives change - there is no more priority on long term, the only thing that matters is INVESTORS INVESTORS INVESTORS (read that one in your finest Steve Ballmer voice).