Tesla Makes Its Debut in 2006
March 29, 2021
A Pebble Beach Concours Moment by WeatherTech
After a private press introduction, the Tesla Roadster prototype made its public debut at the 2006 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. In this interview done on site at the event, Martin Eberhard talks about the dream that spurred the creation of the Tesla and the challenges of starting a new car company. Eberhard co-founded Tesla with capital from Elon Musk among others and served as its first CEO.
There was no fanfare, no formal unveiling at Pebble Beach—just a couple engineering prototypes posed in front of a pop-up tent and available for press drives.
In a personal blog dated August 24, 2006, Eberhard noted that key execs were “pretty skeptical about the idea of taking our precious engineering prototypes out of the hands of our engineers for a dubious marketing event,” but “had a whole new attitude” after seeing the car’s reception. During one stop amidst the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance, they were so tightly surrounded by the enthusiast crowd that they “couldn’t get enough clearance to open the door for at least 15 minutes.” Among the people who flocked to Pebble Beach to see this new electric creation were several Signature One Hundred customers who had signed up for the first 100 cars and were eager to see what they had purchased.
Our thanks to WeatherTech for bringing you this historic Pebble Beach Concours Moment. Copyright
© 2021 Pebble Beach Company
