Tesla Motors Model X, with falcon doors.

The big picture for Elon Musk and Tesla Motors is to produce cars that change hearts and minds, that make people look in awe at electric vehicles and with pity on the current predominant autos that run their internal combustion engines on dinosaur juice. From an interview Sebastian Blanco did with Musk at Auto Blog:

“Auto Blog: 

Is that part of the excitement for you, to again be pushing what EVs can do?

Elon Musk: 

That’s our goal, absolutely. The fundamental good that Tesla will serve is as a catalyst for the advent of electric vehicles. We’ve got to address all of the concerns that people have about electric vehicles and the reason that the Model S be the world’s best car – not for some ego reason – is it’s got to show that an electric can can be a better car than any gasoline car. I wouldn’t actually care all that much about making the best gasoline car in the world. That’s, eh. But if we can make an electric car that people think is better than any gasoline car, then they’ll buy it just because it’s the best car and then we’re way beyond people who just care about the environment. That’s great, but for a lot of people, it’s just not their top thing, so that’s why it’s very important for us to achieve that, which means our quality has got to be fantastic, our safety has got to be top of the line and we have to address the long-distance travel issue, and that’s what the Supercharger is about. I certainly hope people copy us, that’d be great.”