Yes, Kate, I do think that OEM Vertical Integration is going to influence the motivation for an OEM to seek out Lithium Americas.  I don't know if it will be Tesla or not, but the things that have made Tesla a success ( in some eyes, not everyone of course agrees with that ) will also be influencing other OEM auto manufacturers and they will, like Tesla, be searching for ways to VI their Lithium resource by merger and/or acquisition.  That doesn't mean LAC has to bow to those motives of the OEM, but they need to be aware ( and they are aware ) that those motives exist.

OEM Vertical Integration... a phrase that Junior level management in the auto industry must throw around a lot at cocktail parties while Upper level management puts it into place.  The link to the article below is from SAE news, 2 years ago.  No specifics are mentioned, just his opinion that OEMs in the auto industry are re-inventing VI.

https://www.sae.org/news/2018/03/april-2018-ae-supplier-eye-column

Charles Morris published a book in late 2017 called:  Tesla's Vertical Integration is a Radical Change in Strategy         https://evannex.com/blogs/news/book-excerpt-tesla-s-vertical-integration-is-a-radical-change-in-strategy

This YouTube video explains why Economy of Scale is an integral part of the plan of Tesla to make Musks' "Radical Change in Strategy" that brought him over to Vertical Integration work for the company to help it expand and take its present place in the automotive market place in adition to helping it achieve even better results in the future:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4wTKZ8LHLU

The article linked below from a 2016 article in Automotive News had the following interesting quote about Tesla and Vertical Integration:

"Tesla aspires to become the most vertically integrated automaker in the land. And some of the analysts who now follow Tesla believe that might be a strategic strength for the young automaker."    

That was 4 years ago and VI has become more and more of a Tesla priority ever since then. 

https://www.autonews.com/article/20160801/BLOG06/160809968/vertical-integration-rears-its-head