BusinessWeek calls Tesla “a carmaker with Silicon Valley spark” and “the un-car company”:
So what makes Tesla think it has a chance? The very fact that it has been built by outsiders. After all, Detroit is hardly a model of corporate efficiency. Tesla bills itself as Silicon Valley’s version of a car company. Importing executives and management ideas from the technology industry, it is handing out stock options to every employee, doing away with independent dealers, and outsourcing the manufacturing of its cars. Almost all of Tesla’s $105 million in startup capital has come from wealthy California idealists and venture investors. “Silicon Valley is the best in the world at everything it does,” boasts Elon Musk, the PayPal founder who sold the company for $1.5 billion before becoming Tesla’s chairman and chief source of funds. “The corporate culture [in the Valley] is extremely efficient and very competitive.”Startup energy radiates from Tesla’s converted warehouse space on a side street in middle-class San Carlos. All of the top executives — except Musk, who isn’t involved with day-to-day operations — work together in small, cheaply decorated offices. If big decisions need to be made, no one needs to schedule big meetings, write up proposals, or go through any chains of command.
Tesla CEO Martin Eberhard, a former computer engineer, says he is trying to build a car manufacturer that is also a technology company. By outsourcing mundane parts like brakes and seat belts, Tesla engineers are able to focus on a few core technologies: the battery, the computer software, and the proprietary motor that make the car go.