Is it always about Tesla?

Every ambitious auto startup CEO, technical director or stock price cheerleader talks about Tesla before discussing their own hopes and dreams, it seems. Here are some examples from last week.

• Electra Meccanica CEO Jerry Kroll, whose Solo — a one-seat, three-wheel electric vehicle — is taking shape in the outskirts of Vancouver, British Columbia:

"This company is producing the car that Elon Musk wishes he were building. It is great to produce a $45,000, a $100,000 car or a $250,000 car. But for the masses? A $15,000 car that can get them to stop using gas. That's creative."

Kroll added: "A listing on the Nasdaq was what made Tesla a big company. If you could imagine being involved with Tesla before they delivered their first 5,000 vehicles, that's where we're at right now."

• Lucid Air Chief Technology Officer Peter Rawlinson, a Tesla alumnus with plans for a $100,000 electric sedan that begins production in 2020:

"When I was at Tesla and we were designing Model S, the world was quite dismissive of what I was doing. No one believed it was possible to make that car because we were a new company. But I knew how to do it, and I knew that I'd brought in a team of fantastic engineers."