This article doesn't describe what actually ended up happening. They didn't get any money as part of the auto bailout. They did get a loan the next year under a separate program that funded high-efficiency vehicles under DOE, but unlike the auto bailout they had to demonstrate financial solvency to be eligible, and Musk (granted, not a neutral observer) has said they didn't need the money to keep the doors open; it just allowed them to accelerate production of the model S. For what it's worth, they've already paid it all back, ahead of schedule.

In any event, given that they were neither the only green company to get loans under this program, nor the only car company to get loans of any kind in light of the bailout, this hardly strikes me as a "special deal from the government." The grant program existed, they applied for it, they got an award.