Tesla

Intro

Electric cars are rapidly gaining popularity with automotive consumers. As gas prices have fluctuated over the past few years, consumers have been seeking a more economical choice for transportation. Many have traded their SUVs and trucks for more economical options and electric cars offer the opportunity to bypass the gas pumps altogether. With the increasing popularity of electric vehicles there is becoming a growing need for a luxury option to join current offerings such as the Toyota Prius, Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt. Tesla, a current manufacturer of luxury electric cars has been just on the outskirts of mass market production. Now is the perfect moment for Tesla to become a real automaker and make their entrance into the mass market production. They are fully capable of handling mass production and have the ability to become the electric car of choice in the United States with relative ease.

Background of Elon Musk CEO

Currently worth $12.4 billion and ranked number 38 on Forbes Most Powerful People list, at just 44 years of age, Elon Musk is arguably one of the greatest business persons of our generation. (Forbes, 2015) After his first software sale at age eleven, he went on to become co-founder of PayPal and Zip2, while he was only in his twenties, Musk then went on to found SpaceX, which works closely with NASA, whose ultimate goal is to colonize Mars. In 2003 Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning started a company known as Tesla named after Nikola Tesla an electrical engineer and physicist who first invented and patented the AC (alternating current) induction motor in 1888. The plan of Tesla was to use the same AC design to produce the first lithium ion battery powered car. In 2004 Musk met Eberhard and joined Tesla’s board of directors as chairman to lead the first round of Series A investments. The primary goal of Tesla was to commercialize the electric car. By 2007, Eberhard had parted ways and Musk had been through two...