Martin Eberhard was Tesla's first chief executive after the electric-car company was incorporated in 2003.
Eberhard co-founded Tesla Motors with Marc Tarpenning and served as its first CEO. The company was incorporated in July 2003 in California with the goal of developing electric vehicles that could compete with conventional cars. Elon Musk joined the company as an early major investor and became chairman of the board in 2004.
Tesla's first production vehicle was the Roadster, which entered production in 2008 and used lithium-ion battery cells. Eberhard left the CEO role in 2007, after which several executives led the company before Musk became CEO in 2008.
The leadership history is often simplified because Musk is Tesla's most prominent public figure and has led the company for many years. However, he was not Tesla's original CEO, and the company was founded before he took that position.