The key problem here is that much of the debate around Tesla doesn't involve cars — it revolves around the stock price.
Those who follow the stock closely often treat Tesla as a technology company — it is based, after all, in Silicon Valley, and Musk is part of the so-called "PayPal mafia," entrepreneurs who have have transitioned from the sale of PayPal to eBay and become influential businesspeople.
Tech companies are understandably fascinating, as personal computers, smartphones, the internet, search engines, and social networks didn't exist 116 years ago when Henry Ford founded the enterprise that bears his name.
But they're also financialized undertakings, dramas written in venture capital and the constant thrum of valuations and stock-market chatter. Car companies are more boring operations. The major automakers that are publicly traded plod along, raking in mountains of revenue every quarter (cars are expensive) but posting relatively modest profits.
The combination makes for appealing dividends and periodic stock buybacks, but little in the way of big stories.
Tesla should fit into that paradigm, but it doesn't, for obvious reasons. New car companies always suck up the public's attention span, because cars are cool. But making them is all about steady, plodding execution.