With the unveiling of Cybertruck, Tesla’s design regression is complete. They have finally gone all the way Back To The Future.
From the beginning – the most breakthrough thing about Tesla has been its aesthetic; not its tech. Like Jobs-Era Apple, the Tesla brand is boldly rooted in one single individual’s personal psychology. And that person, of course, is Elon Musk. Not, however, the Elon Musk of 2020. Or even 2000. But the pre-pubescent id of a teenage Elon Musk from 1985. Let’s consider the principal design choices:
The Tesla name is not just a tribute to the greatest Electrician the world has ever known, but an homage to the world’s worst Rock Band. It screams 1980’s like a bad power ballad. The font recalls a typeface that could be ironed off an aerobics instructor’s fluorescent “ESPRIT” sweatshirt. Musk’s “Falcon Wing” doors of the Model X are just one species of bird away from John Delorean’s “Gull Wing” doors. And the stainless steel exterior of Cybertruck is just 1.21 Gigawatts away from the brutalist metal shell of his time-traveling namesake. The Atari video games that are Easter-Egged into the dashboard software. The Tesla model numbers, when strung together, spell out “S3XY” like a grade school kid who gets his jollies typing out titilating words on a calculator. The logo itself—-an awkward, vagina-shaped badge complete with not-quite anatomically correct Fallopian tubes? These choices are all inspired by the hormonal notebook scribblings of a Junior High Sci-fi Nerd who wonders 1) What will the car of the future look like? 2) Will I ever have sex?
I should know. I was a nerdy little boy who grew up in the 80’s as well. And like the Boomer Age Men who bid hundreds of thousands of hard earned dollars on the late-60s muscle cars of their teenage dreams at Barrett-Jackson car auctions, it’s next to impossible to escape this tractor beam of Gen-X automotive fantasy. I know it’s lame to lust for a vehicle. I don’t even like cars. But I still want a Tesla. I will never forget, growing up, the way the whole neighborhood talked about Randy Forrest’s Lotus Turbo Esprit with license plate “U WISH”. If you’re suddenly developing a mental picture of Randy Forrest, you’re not wrong – He was THAT guy – the guy we all hate. But Randy Forrest was not wrong either: we did wish we had his car. Whether we admitted it or not.
It’s always been this kind of Randy Forrest-level Polarization that drives real conversation in the real world. But it’s even more true in our current digital world. Ultimately, building a truly great brand comes down to what you refuse to do. A great brand can only come from subtraction. Someone has to refuse to follow the rules of “What You Have To Do” and instead, set their own, definitive rules for what this brand Will Not Do. In the case of Tesla, this Someone was Elon Musk. And he refuses to allow Tesla to “Grow Up”. The standard is powerfully simple: Would my 13 year-old self think this was cool?
“It’s easy. I just chip away the stone that doesn’t look like David.” Michelangelo was said to have said about his process. Say what you want about the ego of Elon Musk, it’s his id that drives the brand. With Cybertruck, he has chipped away whatever was left of the Tesla identity that did not come directly from his hormone-washed, adolescent, Weird Science Brain. Chipped away with a sledgehammer from his Mad Max-meets-Blade Runner Product Demo / Tortue Test. Love it or Hate it, it’s a remarkable aesthetic achievement. I will never actually buy a Cybertruck. I am not in the the target market. But I don’t have to be an owner to be a Tesla believer and evangelist. There is no faith stronger than the reluctant convert.
One day, a Tesla will actually complete a viable self-driven trip across the country thanks to superior Tesla engineering. One day, Tesla battery technology will save the world from certain annihilation, bend the First Law of Thermodynamics and truly create something from nothing. So far, it has not. For now, the technological achievement of Tesla still remains resolutely sum-of-the-parts. However the brand achievement? It’s truly been a one-of-a-kind testament of first principles thinking from an enigmatic Founder. As in — What was the first thought you ever got about what a car brand could be? Before you got money, power, or status. And how can you never lose that raw, visceral excitement you once felt?
For a brand to really inspire us, it must come from Someone and must come from Somewhere. Tesla is a vision of the future. But it’s a very particular vision. A decades-old vision. The vision I had watching Micheal J. Fox skateboard behind a vehicle during the opening credits of Back to the Future, with Huey Lewis’ “Power of Love” blaring in my ears. I’m sold on Cybertruck. But then again, I was sold long ago, back in that dark movie theater on 4th of July weekend, 1985.