If ever you wanted further confirmation of Lord March's powers of persuasion, take a look at the picture above. If you believe the corporate blueprint espoused at every other time of the year, Tesla doesn't do marketing, and while it might pop in at the Geneva motor show, it's done in a very low-key way.
Yet here Tesla is at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed with a big, two-storey stand packed with machinery that seemingly has a magnetic lure for visitors that's unmatched by any other rival, from supercar makers to mainstream giants.
At Goodwood, supposedly the temple of car heritage, Tesla appears to have busted a few more myths, judging by the extent to which I had to get my elbows out to get near any of the cars. It might not have heritage, but a Tesla clearly has a wow factor that, on today's evidence, should be the envy of the industry.
It's a crucial insight, because it shows just how far Tesla has pushed open the door to the consciousness of mainstream buyers despite relatively modest sales. Goodwood's crowd is voting with its (exceptionally muddy, because of water-logged conditions) feet and clamouring to know more, a fact that underpins why so many buyers have placed deposits for the Model 3 without even seeing it in production guise.
The car industry's wise men keep telling us that the car will change more in the next decade than it has in the past 100 years. It's hard to argue with that statement - or with the fact that Tesla is at the forefront of the shift and proving a very effective catalyst and thought leader for it.
Whether it can succeed in the face of the onslaught of big-scale, more established imitators launching new products in the same vein remains to be seen - but I've no doubt Tesla's place in history is set. The only question mark in my mind is whether the 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed will feature Teslas hanging from the main sculpture outside the house - or if the firm will be regarded as a brilliant footnote to car history, tucked away in a tent somewhere on Lord March's front garden.
Either way, it's going to be fun finding out.
See our picture gallery from Goodwood Festival of Speed
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Now enthusiasts who don't consider physics.
@80sXS
Motors are progressive, with
Is Elon Musk the new Steve Jobs?