It's sort of sad people only recognize Tesla for Elon Musk and not say, for Franz von Holzhausen. Tesla's designs are largely the reason why my head turns when I get a glimpse of those beauties on the road.
A good designer's work is subtle; it doesn't let the personality of the designer overwhelm that of the designed product.
An example of an automotive designer whose style was overwhelming would be Chris Bangle (http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/02/chris-bangle-le/, http://www.motortrend.com/features/112_0601_chris_bangle_bmw...), whose work at BMW was highly distinctive -- so distinctive that it became quite polarizing. Bangle's design language was so striking that it was easy to lose sight of the personality of individual cars he designed; their "Bangle-ness" was the most visually obvious thing about them.
I think recognizing Tesla for Elon Musk is reasonable considering he's the founder, CEO, and face of the company. The cars are making waves not for their design, but for their technology. If they were based on normal combustion engines, I doubt too many people would be talking about them.
