Those of us that have been following Tesla Motors since 2006 remember what the company was like when Martin was at the helm. We know that he made a sincere effort to be as transparent as possible, and to share as much information as he could with the people who were interested in TM and the Roadster. We admired his enthusiasm for what he was doing, and the intelligence with which he approached his task. Martin did all the heavy lifting at TM, from coming up with the original idea for the car and the company, assembling an engineering team, finding early funding, lining up production & engineering partners, developing and refining the ESS and PEM, working with Barney Hatt on the styling, building models, mules, and prototypes, FMVSS testing, and communicating with the fan base and customers. Martin put his heart and soul into this company for nearly five years, only to be shown the door just before the Roadster went into production.
In contrast EM spent relatively little time on Tesla between 2004 - 2007. He was preoccupied with SpaceX. He would show up after the work was done and demand changes that would ultimately result in delays and cost overruns. EM stacked the Board of Directors with family, friends, and other allies and, just as the Roadster was almost completed, and literally days before the roll out to the automotive press, EM fabricated a reason to eject Martin from the company that he had founded and had worked so hard to build into a viable manufacturer. Afterwards EM made every effort to minimize and denigrate Martin's role in the development of the Roadster and the building of Tesla Motors. To add insult to injury, EM blamed the delays and cost overuns that his interference had caused on Martin. He tried to claim the mantle of "Founder", and through not-so-subtle means, he continues to claim as much credit as he can for the development of the Roadster.
One of these men is the Real McCoy, the other is a pretender to the throne.
There are no prizes for guessing which is which.
