Jay Leno, Derek Bell, Stephen Bayley and Robert Coucher get serious – and otherwise
The Collector
Remember that friend you had in high school, the one who was fun to hang around with because he always had crazy ideas? In Pretoria, South Africa, Elon Musk would have been that guy. Recently I got to spend a day with Elon and it was one of the most fun and interesting days of my life. I went to Tesla design headquarters in Hawthorne, California, to drive the new Tesla Cybertruck. I’d seen it in magazines and watched the unveiling on the internet but nothing prepares you for seeing it in person. Since their inception, pick-up trucks have pretty much all looked the same. Love it or hate it, this science fiction-inspired vehicle has made all other pick-up trucks look old-fashioned.
I met Elon and chief designer Franz von Holzhausen in their parking lot out front. It was refreshingly unscripted. No PR hack correcting them, just three enthusiastic car guys talking.
Believe me, when the Cybertruck rolls in it makes an impression. The first thing that Elon and Franz wanted to show me was the bed. Whereas most pick-up trucks have an open bed and perhaps some plastic cover, the Cybertruck has what Elon likes to call The Vault. At the touch of a button the bed opens like a roll-top desk. It’s all metal – and feels rather like a vault.
When I asked how strong it was, Elon got up and started jumping on it, said in all seriousness ‘You could lock a missile launcher in here if you wanted to’ and then he handed me the keys. ‘Let’s take it for a ride.’ Being a Tesla owner, I was familiar with the instant torque and power that was available. Make no mistake, it is a huge machine, with seating for six – three in the front and three in the back. 800 horsepower is available with the dual-motor model. There’s lots of glass, which Elon pointed out was very hard to do because the glass was slanted – and bulletproof. Why? He gave me the best non-corporate answer I’ve ever got from a CEO: ‘Because it’s bad-ass and super-cool.’
Elon said one of his pet peeves was seeing a prototype vehicle at an auto show with all kinds of cool features but when the production version comes out it’s nothing like what you saw. Elon vowed that his production vehicles will always be better than prototypes.
To say the Cybertruck attracts a lot of attention would be a huge understatement. At every stoplight people just went crazy – waving, taking pictures, giving a lot of thumbs-up. As we drove along we discussed a lot of things and I realised that, while people like me think about the next thing, Elon is thinking ten steps ahead.
We also discussed the next-generation Tesla Roadster. I got to drive that prototype as well and was stunned by its performance. I asked when he thought it would be available, and he responded by saying he’s trying to figure out how to put the thrusters on it. And: ‘We never joke about this kind of thing.’
As we continued driving around he pointed out SpaceX, where his rockets are built, and the Boring Company – another of his projects, making tunnels under LA to alleviate congestion. Then: ‘Hey, you want to see if a Cybertruck fits in the tunnel?’ ‘Er, you’ve never tried it?’ ‘No. I have no idea. Turn left up here.’ That’s the great thing about having your own company. You can do whatever you want. ‘It looks like we have about a quarter-inch on each side – let’s go for it.’ The tunnel is about a mile-and-a-half long and the huge boring machine looks like something out of a Roadrunner cartoon that burrows through the earth. Six storeys under.
I assumed we would just drive out the other end, but no – Elon had another surprise for me here as well. ‘The elevator will take us up,’ he said. As we’re riding up in the elevator, I asked Elon where we’d come out. ‘Some guy’s back yard.’ And sure enough, when we reached the top we were in some guy’s back yard in a nondescript neighbourhood in Los Angeles. ‘Hi Mr Musk,’ some guys waved. The exit is temporary and six months from now it will be another mile or two down the road.
When we got back to the Tesla design centre we got a chance to see some of the other new vehicles, such as the Tesla semi-truck. Imagine the biggest tractor-trailer you can think of, and then imagine going down the road making no noise at all, hauling 80,000lb. I was stunned at how fast it was. When it took off it was like someone had thrown a building down the road.
To me the real genius of Elon was building the electric infrastructure at the same time as he was building the car. He had charging stations all over America and Europe for people to use once they got the vehicle.
Oh – and I forgot to mention it. He sent a manned spacecraft into space and had it safely land back on Earth. Thankfully, not in that guy’s back yard.
‘ELON STARTED JUMPING ON THE CYBERTRUCK. “YOU COULD LOCK A MISSILE LAUNCHER IN HERE”’