Tesla (founded as Tesla Motors) was incorporated on July 1, 2003, by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Ian Wright was Tesla's third employee, joining a few months later.
The company was named after American engineer and electrical inventor Nikola Tesla.
Investors included Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, eBay founder and president Jeffrey Skoll, Daimler AG, Toyota (investing approximately $50 million), and Elon Musk. Musk was the largest investor in the initial round, with $70 million earned from the sale of his stake in PayPal. Musk became chairman of the board and appointed Eberhard as CEO (he left the company in 2007). Tarpenning, promoted to vice president and engineer, left in 2008. Current company management lists Elon Musk, Jeffrey Brian Straubel, and Ian Wright as co-founders.
Tesla's goal was to start with a premium sports car and then move on to more mainstream vehicles. The first Roadster model was introduced in 2008; it had a range of 240 miles (384 km) and was comparable to internal combustion engine sports cars in most respects; its main drawback was its high price ($109,000).
Musk had promised for years to produce an affordable, mass-market car, but he failed to achieve this; the 2025 price cut failed to achieve this goal.