Should the government give money to Tesla under any circumstances? I don't know. But if they're going to give them a loan, I hope Tesla pursues a business plan that keeps them operating long enough to pay it back. Tesla simply has a more effective go-to-market plan on high-end vehicles than they do with a mass-market product they're not equipped to deliver.

I am under the impression, that it is only a badged Lotus form with M-B providing function.

Public risk, private profit. As it has been for a while.

That's orthogonal to the point this thread is discussing, which is whether it would have been better for Tesla to pursue a lower-end vehicle. It seems obvious that it wouldn't have been, since PEV's are an unproven early-adopter product, and since the mainstream auto manufacturers have something like a half century of sales and delivery infrastructure over Tesla.