If I didn't put that qualifier there would be comments talking shit about musk. Read the rest of this comment section and it's clear as day.
The prius did not sell incredibly well. That is completely false. It sold well enough to be profitable but even a standard Corolla sold more year after year. It took a decade or more before any other serious options existed.
The previous paragraph covers your next question. You have your history wrong about how well the Prius sold and how long until EV's became desirable.
A better wording would have been that the new Prius is more desirable than the previous generations. Which reinforces the previous Prius not "being cool."
I'm not defending musk. So tired of that qualifier in this thread.
The prius is not an EV it's a hybrid and nobody thought they were cool. Even tree huggers like me. Tesla made electric cars cool until everyone found out how poorly they were assembled. Then the other manufacturers, seeing that electric cars could be profitable, started tooling their assembly lines. You have your history completely backwards.
Why SpaceX? I hate Musk and do not support any of his other... anythings. However, rocket go zoom then land without boom is fun to watch. I am genuinely curious why SpaceX is bad.
I completely agree about everything else you mentioned.