elon musk did not found tesla motors nor was he the ceo until years later title what follows is a brief history of tesla starting at its founding not by elon musk but martin eberhard and marc tarpenning page tesla was founded not by elon musk but rather by martin eberhard and marc tarpenning in july page it should be noted however that i never proposed changing it to 'musk is not a cofounder tesla motors' docheuh