Here's a good video from Kirk Kreifels on why Toyota is benchmarking Tesla.
Toyota is looking to Tesla for the benchmark for their upcoming vehicles - Here's how and why
00:00 - Toyota is Evolving, Tesla the standard
08:10 - Alfa Romeo Benchmarking Lexus
09:11 - Japanese Automakers Spending HUGE amounts of money
12:15 - HUGE Toyota shutdown of production
17:41 - Toyota, Honda Top relations with Suppliers
19:36 - Closing thoughts