Oh, so like going from physical buttons on a console to a massive iPad? Some may call that innovation, and that many now consider a regression in terms of usability. Thankfully the market doesn’t purchase cars purely for the sake of “innovation” or whatever your biased interpretation of that is.

And yeah, the fact that my car feels like I am driving on a cloud in a quiet cabin versus a rickety Tesla is innovative and equally important to a lot of people.

You realize we're actually talking about an Apple Car, right? Not Teslas. You're making points about why you think Teslas are shit, but I merely used them for illustrative purposes. Again, regardless of how much you like your car, it is not seen as "innovative", in large part because it is an ICE vehicle. Quality control, individual components, and decisions about the best way to interface with a car are secondary to that. In fact, you're only helping make the point. The fact that Teslas have a number of clear issues (including a founder many people like to hate) and yet still win the hearts and minds of people as an innovator in the car space speaks volumes.

Building an electric vehicle does not mean you need to be like Tesla in other ways. Apple doesn't want to be a Tesla clone, they want to do their own thing. I'm sure the bigwigs at Apple would balk at panel gaps or whatever more than you do. But Apple releasing an ICE vehicle in 2028 would not be in line with their brand and market positioning at all.

As an aside, if you'd like to see a vehicle that is both electric and superior to your Audi in terms of comfort, check out the new Rolls Royce Spectre. RR also feels that the best way for them to innovate is by electrifying their vehicles, and I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a car maker further from Tesla (in terms of ethos) than RR.