Elon's goal isn't money - he has more money than God. His goal is ego gratification. He wants to be Tony Stark, to do the cool shit that leads people to worship him as a genius and innovator.
If he doesn't want to be beholden to the needs of the public market, he's free to take Tesla private.
He couldn't care less about the market or its needs.We live in a capitalist society and Elon Musk won capitalism. The man famously doesn't pay bills. He doesn't pay rent. He illegally put a giant light-up X on top of Twitter HQ that the police had to remove. He plays with companies like a kid playing with toys. He believes the rules don't apply to him, thus far he's been proven correct (possibly with the exception of being forced to buy Twitter - but he can afford to burn that to the ground if he wants.) He's gotten away with things that would have landed lesser people in prison many, many times, and has more money to throw at the consequences of his actions than most governments.
What you wrote rings true, especially the "would have landed lesser people in prison many, many times" part.