Tesla is founded, and Elon Musk joins a year later
Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning started Tesla Motors; Musk led its 2004 funding round and became chairman.
Archive entry. This article looks back at an event from July 1, 2003. It was drafted with AI assistance from public records and is being fact-checked. See our About page.
Tesla Motors was incorporated on July 1, 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, who wanted to build electric cars that were fast and desirable rather than purely economical.
In 2004, Elon Musk led the company's Series A funding round, investing about $6.5 million, and joined as chairman of the board. He later became CEO in October 2008.
The company's first car, the Roadster, was built to show that an electric vehicle could be a performance sports car. A "master plan" followed: use profits from expensive cars to fund cheaper ones.
