Tesla history

Prototypes of Tesla's first car, the Roadster, were officially revealed to the public on July 19, 2006, in Santa Monica, California, at a 350-person invitation-only event held in Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport.

Customers began paying deposits for the first 100 Tesla Roadsters anticipated for release in 2007; George Clooney paid $100,000 to secure one of the first Roadsters in production.

Magazine names Elon Musk Entrepreneur of the Year for 2007.

The loan program was created in 2007 during the George W. Bush administration.

The fifth round in February 2008 added another US$40 million.

By November 2008, the company's financial situation had worsened and Tesla was on the brink of bankruptcy.

In late 2007 Eberhard resigned as CEO and president of technology and joined the advisory board of the company. It was announced in 2008 that he had left the company, though he remained a shareholder.

Tesla was also forced to issue a safety recall in 2009 for 345 Roadsters that were produced prior to April 22, 2009.

In June 2009, Eberhard filed a lawsuit against Musk for allegedly forcing him out.

In July 2009, Daimler announced that Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments bought 40% of Daimler’s interest in Tesla.

The company announced in early August 2009 that it had achieved overall corporate profitability for the month of July 2009.

Since its IPO in 2010, Elon Musk's electric-car company has contented with high highs and low lows.

Tesla closed out its first day of trading in 2010 with a market cap of $2.22 billion.

Toyota and Tesla partnered in electric car development in 2010 with the intention of collaborating on electric vehicles, parts, engineering, and production in the future.

The first Australian Tesla Motors showroom opened in 2010 in Sydney.

Tesla Motors revealed $154.3 million in losses in 2010.

Another Tesla recall was made in 2010 for the 12 V low-voltage auxiliary cable in 439 Roadsters.

As of 2011, a Hong Kong branch of Tesla Motors was established.

By February 2012, the company had amassed advance sales of more than $40 million.

In a major milestone, Tesla started delivering the Model S to customers in June 2012.

Joint venture development included the 2012 electric Toyota RAV4.

In a comparison with the 2012 estimated cost of fuel at $3.80 a gallon when driving a gas-powered car at an average of 22 mpg, Tesla shows considerable savings when driving an electric car.

Model S sales hit 18,000-20,000 a year in 2013.

The Model S was the first electric car to receive the highly coveted Motor Trend Car of the Year Award in 2013.

Tesla Superchargers for Model S drivers are available for free travel throughout North America in roughly 65 stations; coast-to-coast travel was offered as of winter 2013.

Despite the drop, Tesla was still the top performer on the Nasdaq 100 index in 2013.

Tesla announced its plans to build its giant battery factory, dubbed the Gigafactory, in February 2014 and ultimately decided to built it in Sparks, Nevada.

Tesla Motors launched the Model S sedan; Tesla confirmed Model X small SUV production for early 2014.

Musk also projected that 800 cars a week will be sold by the end of 2014.

Tesla is seeking to sell 40,000 electric vehicles worldwide in 2014, adding China to its export plans.

Tesla announced the Tesla Autopilot, a driver-assistance system, in 2014.

In September that year, all Tesla cars started shipping with sensors and software to support the feature, with what would later be called "hardware version 1". In April 2015, Tesla entered the energy storage market, unveiling its Tesla Powerwall (home) and Tesla Powerpack (business) battery packs.

Tesla began shipping its third vehicle, the luxury SUV Tesla Model X, in September 2015, at which time it had 25,000 pre-orders.

Tesla announced Drori would take the helm at Tesla at the end of November. It was the last hour of the last day that it was possible," Musk said in 2015.

Tesla released the Model X, a “crossover” vehicle (i.e., a vehicle with features of a sport-utility vehicle but built on a car chassis), in 2015.

Tesla will have to wait until 2015 to apply for the same exemption in Texas; currently, Tesla showrooms in Austin and Houston cannot technically sell vehicles.

In 2015, Tesla expanded its product line with Model X, the safest, quickest and most capable sport utility vehicle in history that holds 5-star safety ratings across every category from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In November 2016, Tesla acquired SolarCity, in an all-stock $2.6 billion deal, and entered the photovoltaics market.

Musk made it clear in early 2016 that automation was the future for Tesla.

Tesla launched the Model 3 in July 2017.

Tesla began selling its fourth vehicle model, the Model 3 sedan, in July 2017.

In 2017, the automaker dropped the "motors" from its name in a move meant to reflect the fact that Tesla no longer just sold cars.

Tesla made multiple contributions of solar power to areas recovering from disasters in 2017, in particular installing a solar plus storage system to restore electricity at a hospital in Puerto Rico, following the destruction from Hurricane Maria.

2018 did not start too well for Tesla.

The plan did not materialize, and gave rise to much controversy and many lawsuits including a securities fraud charge from the SEC. By the end of 2018, the production problems had been overcome, and the Model 3 was the world's best selling plug-in electric car for the year.

The Model 3 also set records in Norway and the Netherlands, as the best selling passenger car model in the overall market in 2019.

Tesla announces plans to build an electric semi truck, for production in 2019.

In 2019, Tesla unveiled Model Y, a mid-size SUV, with seating for up to seven, and Cybertruck, which will have better utility than a traditional truck and more performance than a sports car.

Tesla opened its first "Gigafactory" outside the United States in Shanghai, China, in 2019.

The company ended the year with over $19 billion of cash, compared to $6.3 billion at the end of 2019.

In March 2020, Tesla began deliveries of its fifth vehicle model, the Model Y crossover.

On August 31, 2020, following this increase in value, Tesla had a 5-for-1 stock split.

In October 2020, Tesla told Electrek that they had dissolved their public relations (PR) department (with the exception of a few PR managers representing Tesla's European and Asian markets), becoming the first automaker to do so.

Tesla hit its goal of building a half-million cars in 2020.

In July 2021, Musk acknowledged that Tesla had sold Maxwell to the former VP of sales for Maxwell.

In September 2021, Tesla broke ground on a new battery factory in Lathrop, California, and signed a lease in October 2021 for additional office space in Palo Alto.

After earlier disputes with California officials over COVID-19 restrictions, on December 1, 2021, Tesla moved its headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to their Gigafactory at Austin, Texas.