Tesla’s pickup truck reveal last night was a disaster. I can’t imagine a more hideous looking vehicle if I tried. In fact, it’s so ugly it has single-handedly caused a significant stock price drop the day after.
If someone had told me that TESLAQ had staged an ugly truck satire contest where different members would submit their entries for what Tesla’s final truck would look like. And then showed me Tesla’s final Cyber Truck, I would’ve totally believed it was a lampoon image done maliciously.
Making matters worse, Musk was humiliated on stage when his shatterproof glass demonstration failed spectacularly. Musk instructed the Tesla truck designer to throw a steel ball at the glass to show the audience how the glass wouldn’t shatter. After which the glass promptly shattered. A Saturday Night Live sketch couldn’t have been any funnier. If the date had been April 1st we all would’ve laughed at Musk’s funny April Fools day prank.
But what’s not so funny is what last night’s disaster spells for Tesla. I have a few quick thoughts.
Tesla Design Has Gone Downhill Fast
I’ve never been a fan of Tesla but even I had always admired the original Model S concept. Before it got old and stale anyway. Despite the fact that it was a glitchy problem-prone vehicle, it at least looked nice.
Tesla’s next product line, the Model X, was not a svelte beautiful object. It was bulbous and awkward looking but I’d stop short of calling it outright ugly. Although, many others did find it rather embarrassing.
The Model 3 definitely crossed the line into being a downright ugly car. With the face of a frog and the proportions of an economy car it radiates the same vibes as an econobox that people buy simply because it’s cheap. Everyone assumes it’s what you buy when you’re desperate to buy an EV but can’t afford a Model S.
Making matters worse, Musk was humiliated on stage when his shatterproof glass demonstration failed spectacularly. Musk instructed the Tesla truck designer to throw a steel ball at the glass to show the audience how the glass wouldn’t shatter. After which the glass promptly shattered. A Saturday Night Live sketch couldn’t have been any funnier. If the date had been April 1st we all would’ve laughed at Musk’s funny April Fools day prank.
But what’s not so funny is what last night’s disaster spells for Tesla. I have a few quick thoughts.
Tesla Design Has Gone Downhill Fast
I’ve never been a fan of Tesla but even I had always admired the original Model S concept. Before it got old and stale anyway. Despite the fact that it was a glitchy problem-prone vehicle, it at least looked nice.
Tesla’s next product line, the Model X, was not a svelte beautiful object. It was bulbous and awkward looking but I’d stop short of calling it outright ugly. Although, many others did find it rather embarrassing.
The Model 3 definitely crossed the line into being a downright ugly car. With the face of a frog and the proportions of an economy car it radiates the same vibes as an econobox that people buy simply because it’s cheap. Everyone assumes it’s what you buy when you’re desperate to buy an EV but can’t afford a Model S.
I didn’t think Tesla could do any uglier than the Model 3 until last night. That Cyber Truck is right out of a bad low-budget science fiction movie. What is going on with Tesla design? Tesla doesn’t have high-quality or reliability as part of it’s value proposition. So they need to have stylish cars to compensate for their weaknesses. And yet, their product lines are getting uglier with each iteration. You could almost base a short thesis on this alone. Tesla’ doesn’t know how to design cars.
Musk Is Out of Touch
Who wants a truck that can win drag races against a Porsche 911? That guarantees either that the truck remains low-volume or that the truck will be a huge money loser. And those sledgehammer-proof body panels have got to be super expensive both in materials and production. Musk promised a $35,000 Model 3 which never really came to be. He’s setting up Tesla for a similar situation with the truck.
Musk’s Judgement Is Flawed
Musk had to know that there was a chance his glass could shatter. But he decided to roll the dice anyway with a live audience. He’s a risk taker at heart. He’ll gamble with his company’s future or the lives of customers using his self-driving software. It doesn’t matter. As long as there’s a chance that he could win the gamble and make big bucks, he’ll roll the dice.
No One Around Musk Can Talk Sense Into Him
The presence of a risk-taker CEO is a bad situation but not entirely unheard of. Companies in this situation with a flawed visionary CEO can usually mitigate that problem. It will take a seasoned staff with the wisdom and gravitas to speak some sense into their CEO when it’s necessary. Steve Jobs had this at Apple and Steve at least had enough humility to know when to defer to his lieutenants.
Surely there were people in the Tesla design team who knew that throwing a steel ball at the windows wasn’t a good idea and warned Musk. Or they were too afraid to warn Musk. I’m not sure which is worse. But whatever the case, there is an environment at Tesla whereby Musk doesn’t listen to reason or prevents the truth from being vocalized.
Tesla R&D Is Lacking
How could Tesla make an amazing claim like “shatterproof windows” without thoroughly putting that claim to the test? I think this is the scariest thing about Tesla as a company. Whether or not glass should be shatterproof in the first place is an open-ended question. But if you’re going to make the claim, it should at least be true.
The year before Apple made the claim that it’s Apple Watches or iPhones were water proof, you could actually shower or take a quick dip underwater with the non-waterproof precursor devices. That’s how most prudent companies operate. They thoroughly test their claims, and not just for a few days, but months. Especially for a claim that’s going to be a headliner in marketing materials.
Did some engineer throw a steel ball at a window a couple of times and tell his boss that the glass is shatterproof? Was there such a lack of quality control infrastructure that this news made it to Musk and he ran with it?
We already know that their self driving software is a joke. We know that Tesla inflates the advertised expected mileage range of their batteries. And yet, I thought that for a flashy headliner feature like shatterproof glass that Tesla would finally vet their claim. But no.
How many other claims by Tesla are actually not thoroughly vetted? I wouldn’t recommend that anyone purchase a Tesla.
Where Does Tesla Stand on Auto Safety?
Auto glass shatters remarkably easy and it’s by design. If the glass doesn’t shatter than your skull will. All auto manufacturers utilize this “soft” glass for the safety of their occupants. There needs to be some give by the glass in an accident to help prevent serious head injuries by the occupants whose heads get slammed into the windshield or side windows.
The only vehicles that don’t utilize soft glass are bullet proof vehicles for potential VIP targets. But that’s because they’ve made the calculation that an assassin’s bullet is a greater risk than a full speed collision. They’re willing to take on one risk to mitigate a larger one.
Also, one of the biggest determining factors in how safe a vehicle is in a collision, is how well it crumples. Vehicles are designed with exteriors that will crumple like an accordion in the event of a crash so that their occupants sustain a reduced shock. How does the sledgehammer proof metal fit into this safety paradigm?
Is Tesla playing fast and loose with safety just for the sake of a flashy product reveal? Are they simply making claims that they know they’ll backtrack on later? Will this truck ever even see production?
Tesla staged the semi-truck and roadster product reveal over two years ago and neither of those products has manufacturing lines even close to ready. It’s my theory that this Cyber Truck product reveal was a sham simply to move the price up. There will never be a pickup truck, or if there is, it will not be anything close to the monstrosity we saw last night. This was not a real product reveal by a company that’s not a serious car company.
Musk Is Out of Touch
Who wants a truck that can win drag races against a Porsche 911? That guarantees either that the truck remains low-volume or that the truck will be a huge money loser. And those sledgehammer-proof body panels have got to be super expensive both in materials and production. Musk promised a $35,000 Model 3 which never really came to be. He’s setting up Tesla for a similar situation with the truck.
Musk’s Judgement Is Flawed
Musk had to know that there was a chance his glass could shatter. But he decided to roll the dice anyway with a live audience. He’s a risk taker at heart. He’ll gamble with his company’s future or the lives of customers using his self-driving software. It doesn’t matter. As long as there’s a chance that he could win the gamble and make big bucks, he’ll roll the dice.
No One Around Musk Can Talk Sense Into Him
The presence of a risk-taker CEO is a bad situation but not entirely unheard of. Companies in this situation with a flawed visionary CEO can usually mitigate that problem. It will take a seasoned staff with the wisdom and gravitas to speak some sense into their CEO when it’s necessary. Steve Jobs had this at Apple and Steve at least had enough humility to know when to defer to his lieutenants.
Surely there were people in the Tesla design team who knew that throwing a steel ball at the windows wasn’t a good idea and warned Musk. Or they were too afraid to warn Musk. I’m not sure which is worse. But whatever the case, there is an environment at Tesla whereby Musk doesn’t listen to reason or prevents the truth from being vocalized.
Tesla R&D Is Lacking
How could Tesla make an amazing claim like “shatterproof windows” without thoroughly putting that claim to the test? I think this is the scariest thing about Tesla as a company. Whether or not glass should be shatterproof in the first place is an open-ended question. But if you’re going to make the claim, it should at least be true.
The year before Apple made the claim that it’s Apple Watches or iPhones were water proof, you could actually shower or take a quick dip underwater with the non-waterproof precursor devices. That’s how most prudent companies operate. They thoroughly test their claims, and not just for a few days, but months. Especially for a claim that’s going to be a headliner in marketing materials.
Did some engineer throw a steel ball at a window a couple of times and tell his boss that the glass is shatterproof? Was there such a lack of quality control infrastructure that this news made it to Musk and he ran with it?
We already know that their self driving software is a joke. We know that Tesla inflates the advertised expected mileage range of their batteries. And yet, I thought that for a flashy headliner feature like shatterproof glass that Tesla would finally vet their claim. But no.
How many other claims by Tesla are actually not thoroughly vetted? I wouldn’t recommend that anyone purchase a Tesla.
Where Does Tesla Stand on Auto Safety?
Auto glass shatters remarkably easy and it’s by design. If the glass doesn’t shatter than your skull will. All auto manufacturers utilize this “soft” glass for the safety of their occupants. There needs to be some give by the glass in an accident to help prevent serious head injuries by the occupants whose heads get slammed into the windshield or side windows.
The only vehicles that don’t utilize soft glass are bullet proof vehicles for potential VIP targets. But that’s because they’ve made the calculation that an assassin’s bullet is a greater risk than a full speed collision. They’re willing to take on one risk to mitigate a larger one.
Also, one of the biggest determining factors in how safe a vehicle is in a collision, is how well it crumples. Vehicles are designed with exteriors that will crumple like an accordion in the event of a crash so that their occupants sustain a reduced shock. How does the sledgehammer proof metal fit into this safety paradigm?
Is Tesla playing fast and loose with safety just for the sake of a flashy product reveal? Are they simply making claims that they know they’ll backtrack on later? Will this truck ever even see production?
Tesla staged the semi-truck and roadster product reveal over two years ago and neither of those products has manufacturing lines even close to ready. It’s my theory that this Cyber Truck product reveal was a sham simply to move the price up. There will never be a pickup truck, or if there is, it will not be anything close to the monstrosity we saw last night. This was not a real product reveal by a company that’s not a serious car company.
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