Apparently Elon Musk is not a fan of traditional Ford trucks and his distaste for these vehicles gave rise to the Cybertruck, according to the billionaire’s biographer, Walter Isaacson.
The author, who has been following Musk for about 3 years, stated during an interview on the show Squawk Box of the CNBC that the CEO of Tesla was told The idea for the futuristic electric van came about 6 years ago..
“He was sitting with his chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen, looking at a Ford pickup and he blurted out: ‘No these things are boring‘” Isaacson recounted the exchange, which he said will be fully detailed in his next book.
“He doesn’t like to be bored and he puts stuff from movies, science fiction, video games and says, ‘I want it like this,'” Isaacson added. “And everyone is all over him in the meeting. In the end he says, ‘Yeah, stop. Let’s do it. We’re going to make his hair stand on end.'”
The Cybertruck arrives 2 years late: Elon Musk’s promises that remain unfulfilled
On Twitter, Isaacson shared later a photo of Musk and Tesla’s chief designer in front of a series of images of what appear to be early design ideas for the Cybertruck. The biographer shared a quote from his book in the tweet, saying that Musk issued an edict in 2017 that the van would be completely stainless steel.
“The use of stainless steel opened up new possibilities for the look of the truck,” writes Isaacson. “Rather than using stamping machines that would sculpt carbon fiber into body panels with subtle curves and shapes, stainless steel would favor straight planes and sharp angles. That allowed — and somewhat forced — the design team to explore more futuristic, avant-garde, even shocking ideas.”
Last week, Tesla shared that the company had made its first production Cybertruck at its Gigafactory in Texas. Musk first unveiled the concept for the electric van around 4 years ago and the project has faced a number of delays over the last 2 years.
The Tesla CEO also commented on Ford’s competing product — the all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck — on Monday after the company lowered prices for the vehicle.
“The Ford Lightning is a good car, just a little expensive, especially considering the high interest rates these days for any type of loan,” Musk tweeted.
Musk is not the only one to comment on the impending rivalry between the two vehicles. Last month, Ford CEO Jim Farley appeared to scoff at the Cybertruck, calling it a vehicle “for the people of Silicon Valley” during an interview with Jim Cramer of the CNBC.
“The reality is, America loves the underdog, and we’re the market leader for electric pickup trucks and vans, and we know those customers better than anyone,” Farley said.
The Cybertruck will be Tesla’s first electric pick-up. Until recently, Ford was one of the few automakers to produce an electric pickup truck. Last year, Ford delivered more than 13,000 F-150 electric pickup trucks as the company worked to ramp up production and meet some 200,000 reservations.
Rivian, the new electric pickup truck company, has also jumped ahead of the market. Rivian has delivered just over 29,000 electric vehicles since 2021 and last year the company claimed it had a waiting list of more than 114,000 pre-orders. Tesla has most of the overall electric vehicle market in the US, but the truck market is one of the most lucrative in the country.
Musk has assured that the automaker plans to start delivering the Cybertruck within a year, but the company has not yet communicated the price of the vehicle.
