Tesla is an American manufacturer of an eponymous brand of electric automobiles and trucks, originally founded in 2003 as "Tesla Motors" by engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, who named the company in honor of inventor Nikola Tesla. After 5 years of research and development, the company began producing its first car, the Tesla Roadster, in 2008, followed by the Model S sedan in 2012, the Model X SUV in 2015, the Model 3 sedan in 2017, the Model Y crossover in 2020, the Tesla Semi truck in 2022 and the Cybertruck light pickup truck in 2023.
The company is often associated with current CEO Elon Musk, who became the company's largest shareholder with an investment of a mere $6.5 million dollars in 2004 and forced out the founders from 2007-2008 before naming himself their replacement as CEO.
As one of the first electric vehicle manufacturers to reach the market with a viable product, Tesla is one of the major players in the rapidly growing market for electric vehicles, although it faces stiff challenges from a number of more recently founded competitors in the US, Europe, and especially China.