Will Tesla’s Model 3 turn out to be the iPhone of the electric car world? Or might Elon Musk’s company become a key supplier of batteries and electric powertrains to the auto industry as it moves beyond internal combustion engines; or a juggernaut of self-driving software, the brains for fleets of robot vehicles?

Or will it be just another carmaker?

When it comes to Tesla, stock market investors have let their collective imagination off the leash. A year ago, some of Wall Street’s smartest were betting that Mr Musk faced a hard landing, and possibly even bankruptcy. Now, if the stock market is to be believed, he has the world at his feet.