Both. Cars are weird. They are a ubiquitous mode of transport, and also a stylized representation of personality. A successful, normal car manufacturer makes

Both. Cars are weird. They are a ubiquitous mode of transport, and also a stylized representation of personality. A successful, normal car manufacturer makes a handful of ridiculously expensive, fast, uncomfortable, cool-looking sports cars. These don't make a profit: they serve as advertising and marketing. They tell the consumer that some of the same technologies are used in the aspirational sports cars that they sell to enthusiasts. And those share a marketing name with the sporty coupes and hatchbacks that they sell to people who tell themselves that they like to drive. Tesla's Roadsters were expensive, impractical, and eye-catching. They served as a proof-of-marketing-concept for the Model S... which was expensive, eye-catching, but more practical. And more variations became less expensive, less eye-catching, and generally more practical. Assuming Tesla still exists in ten years, you should expect to see a cheaper smaller version of the 3, and a long-range minivan.