Though today the company might be one of
the world’s most exclusive and innovative, it
hasn’t always been an easy road for Tesla and
CEO Elon Musk. In seventeen short years, the
company has racked up an impressive number
of milestones and is reshaping the way we travel
and think about the future. As Tesla readies the
release of the new Model S, as well as its Semi,
Cybertruck, and Roadster, the organization is
headed for the fast lane.
THE JOURNEY SO FAR
In less than two decades, the Silicon Valley
electric-car company has transformed the
auto industry in ways we never thought
possible - creating an American car brand and
forcing its rivals to switch to electric and take
significant ranks. Not only has it benefited the
US economy and helped consumers access
cutting-edge cars without breaking the bank,
but it’s moved the world forward leaps and
bounds in terms of the environment, forcing us
to question the way we travel and make more
conscious choices that reduce our footprints.
Before Elon Musk, today worth more than
$180 billion, was involved with Tesla, he and
his business partners took their share of PayPal
- worth $1.5 billion at the time - and sank it
into Tesla and SpaceX projects, an incredible
commitment that some at the time thought
would lead to wreck and ruin. Shortly after
that investment, the Original Roadster
launched as the firm’s first vehicle, based on a
Lotus chassis, and demonstrated to the world
that EVs could be cool and fast. No longer did
people buy a glorified golf cart - they were