That article is incorrect. Musk took ownership of the second Tesla Roadster off the line (about which he has publicly boasted) even though Eberhard was guaranteed it through his severance agreement. Eberhard eventually got the fourth Roadster produced, which was damaged by a Tesla employee and then repaired. Musk has been pretty nasty toward Eberhard (and the other true cofounder, Marc Tarpenning), at one point claiming that they really had nothing to do with the vehicle that was actually produced as the Roadster and that he had also practically designed the production car himself. Musk himself got named as a cofounder in a court settlement after forcing Eberhard and Tarpenning out of their company even though he was only involved at the Series A funding round (about eight months after the company was incorporated) and then inserted himself into the company, making demands of implementing non-critical features such as an electronically actuated door handle that by most accounts delayed the release of the car by over a year. There is a well documented history of the litigation even if some of the specific details are of the “He said, she said” variety, and given what the public has seen of Musk’s behavior lately (and what I’ve seen for going on fifteen years of man-baby temper tantrums, SLAPP suits, and generally claiming credit for the hard work of others) I’m inclined to give more credence to Eberhard and Tarpenning who have both decided that living well is the best revenge versus Musk’s campaign of vengeance upon them as well as minor functionaries in the regulatory agencies that he is now trying so hard to dismantle.
A little taste of the true history of Elon Musk:
Stranger