I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Tesla (Fremont, CA) in Oct 2014
Interview
Initially spoke to a recruiter over the phone which lead to a phone conversation/interview with the hiring manager. This led to an on-site interview, but due to scheduling, I had the on-site interview about 5 weeks later after the conversation with the hiring manager.
The on-site interview was fantastic. After dropping off my car for their valet service, I printed out my name tag at one of their electronic kiosks at their front office and waited for my contact to pick me up from the lobby. I remember speaking to at least 7 different people with a limit of ~30 minutes per person. The interview style was via a one-on-one approach. All the folks on the purchasing, production, and supply chain team were easy to talk to. Expect to receive teleconference calls during the interview, especially if the team members travel overseas.
I heard back about two weeks later, but due to the holidays, the paperwork went through a bit slower. Tesla Motors will ask you to write three bullet points about yourself and have you fill out background check information prior to the release of any offer letter. The three bullet points are somewhat standard of all of Elon Musk's companies (e.g. SpaceX, Solar City) - or so I've heard. Seems like an Elon-esque item.
Received the offer letter several weeks later.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
* Tell me about your background.
* Talk about a situation where you ran into X-scenario (they will pick off your resume or from what you've told them).
* How would you handle X-scenario?