One thing that pretty much everyone underestimated here is exactly how good Musk is at finding other people to pay for stuff.

The loans from the Chinese govt...insane...he found literally the only people on earth (perhaps aside from German bankers, although they have lost too much money to carry on for now) that will light fire to huge stacks of cash with no hesitation.

Fiat are shrewd but he clearly had them up against a wall here. Genius.

I would still much rather take my money down to the track rather than invest with Musk but it is genuinely difficult to think of another CEO with as much capital markets hustle.