SpaceX launches more payload to orbit than the rest of the world combined. They're the only ones who have managed to land orbital boosters.

Tesla has manufactured over 3 million cars. They are so successful that the majority of electric vehicles in developed countries are Teslas. Since Tesla is a publicly traded company, you can look at their SEC filings and see that less than 2% of their revenue comes from subsidies.[1] 86% of their revenue is from selling and leasing cars. 8% is from services related to those cars, and 5% is from energy generation and storage. In Tesla's accounting, regulatory credits are a rounding error.

I have a hard time figuring out how either of these businesses are a confidence trick.

1. https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1318605/0000...