What brings you guys here?
Cybertruck?
Yeah, of course. Amazing.
Hey, Franz. Hey. How you doing? Thank you so much. Yeah. Good to see you. Franz. Nice to meet you. Likewise. You want to join? Thank you so much. Of course. What brings you guys here?
Cybertruck.
Yeah, of course. Amazing. So, you saw our bodyguard, so he drove us here and yeah. Thank you so much. So on behalf of Tesla Club Austria and our big brother partner in crime, Silicon Valley Club. So say hello to John.
Hey John, thank you so much for setting this up. And yeah, we're just stoked to be here. I mean, I can't imagine being a designer. So you can design your own restaurant. How does that feel?
Well, first of all, welcome to the Tesla Diner in Hollywood. One week into having opened this place and we're excited that you're here. I think hopefully you've had a chance to get some good food and get a bit of an experience, a little bit of a Hollywood experience. But to answer your question, first of all, it's always a team of people. I'm just fortunate enough to be around really good people. We've brought in really good people to be able to create something like this. I think the vision was to do a diner with a great experience where you can come charge, eat, relax, watch a movie. There's nothing like that around here. Getting a chance to work on that project is super fun. It's not something that we normally do, but it's a great change of pace. I think you can see a little bit of the Tesla character in a lot of the stuff, the building, the space, and the experience.
Friends have heard it was a long way to make the diner. It's actually fun because the Cybertruck was shaped very straight and this is a round diner. Is it because it's the old style from a diner?
We wanted to have a diner that was nostalgic in a way that brought back the feeling and the vibe of being in a diner anywhere in America, but also bring a newness and a futuristic Jetsons kind of vibe to it. You look at anything in the Jetsons, they're all round and very futuristic looking. We found that combination. I'm looking at the building now and the Cybertruck is made up of all these stainless steel panels, but so is our building. All these panels are recycled panels from the Cybertruck manufacturing. So we're able to use the same materials in a different form factor.
So you got a cheap deal on steel? If it was cheap, but we're making sure we use every piece of steel.
It was a nice change, a great project for our team. I think something that will hopefully continue to proliferate around the world.
Awesome. So, speaking of Cybertruck, we have to address this. It's been in our minds since 2019 when we sat together in your interior design studio. We set up a live stream because nobody knew how the Cybertruck would look like. We did a live stream event, a reaction video back then in 2019. We were hyped like two seconds after that. We were like, what? You guys have force. I mean, putting this into the real world takes force. Congrats. We were totally stoked. Then a magic moment for the world, maybe not for you, happened. So, what was in your mind when it broke?
You were referring to the window, right? Yeah. Well, we had practiced behind the scenes on the truck, on the window multiple times right before we went live on the stage. I think it was just one of those Murphy's law things where something happens. But it turned out to be a great meme. In an odd sort of way, we don't do marketing, but it turned into a great marketing moment. The ball didn't go through the window, so you're still safe. It was not an expected moment, but in that moment, you have to roll with it. Elon was amazing. You too. I think just thinking about what that moment could have been, he rolled with it and we turned it into something positive.
Yeah. That's what you do. You guys are fun and you are capable of having fun and just roll with it. It's amazing.
I mean, Cybertruck, as radical looking as it may be, it's still grounded in functionality. It has the functionality of a pickup truck, but maybe more. It puts the toughness on the outside, not on the inside. It really has the core attributes of what you would want in a truck. Just because the shape is different doesn't mean it's not functional. It does many of the things truck buyers are looking for, but in a better way. It was an exciting and interesting project to work on. I always felt like I had something unique and new and was just excited that Elon was behind it and really pushing for it and not at all shy about being radically different. There's no other brand that could go out there and do something as radical as Cybertruck. But literally, Cybertruck exists because it's also a functional truck. It's not just different looking to be different. It's different looking for a reason. It does all the things you would expect a truck to do and more.
It's totally awesome truck. I don't know if you know, but we are crazy enough. We bought a Cybertruck in the US and we brought it to Austria.
Oh, great. One year ago now. Amazing. So you have to be a rock star everywhere you go with that.
Yeah. I love it. But we are also really poor guys because we're so crazy to do that and it's not road legal. They won't let us get road legal. It's so hard to keep it. You drive around anyways. Yeah, of course. So it's not 100% legal, but we can talk with police quite good. Austria is laid back. But if I can address this, what have you done with the truck so far?
The first thing was actually when we picked it up, we put crushed ice in the secret boat and beer and then we had champagne and we sprayed the truck with champagne to celebrate it. Yeah, of course. It was the first thing. I love the ice box. It's only ice there and beers and champagne. It's amazing. No, it's an amazing truck. We love it. We do events, we show it to the people, we do it together with Tesla Austria. We drive to the superchargers and people are coming. It's the only truck in Austria. People go crazy. Nobody cares because it's seen, but in Austria it's really super special. It's like an alien on the road. What we do is we try to bring attention towards Tesla. We work together with the local teams and they offer test rides. So we say, you can ride with us with the Cybertruck, but if you're not a member, you can sit in of course, but if you want to experience Tesla, there are the other models. That's what we're doing. We have fun. We put DJs there and it's a party vehicle for us.
But one thing I have to be critical as well. So here during our trip, we went to the X takeover and then to Giga Nevada for the tour and Redwood Materials, and then we flew to Las Vegas. Then we had another Cybertruck. We rented one and then we had from our bodyguard Carlos, you saw him before. We are six guys now, seven with the bodyguard, right? So we put him in the back. Yeah, we actually do. Don't talk about it on camera. I can tell you some stories after. So what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. At some point there were a lot of guys from our team in the Cybertruck. But not even when so many people are in there. Also when driving here, I do like this and I open the window in the back seat, in the rear seat. It happens so often.
Which brings me to an interesting topic. Was this team design or team engineering? It's kind of both. At the end of the day, we work together really tightly, the design team and the engineering team. Sometimes these things we just don't test for, ergonomics. We have an ergonomics team. Do we test? No, we have an ergonomics team in our team. I'm sure they yelled and screamed at us about this. If I remember, we did have conversations about the window switch and the door switch and the location of both. I think it's safer that you don't open the door versus opening the window if you lean on it. That may have been the ultimate decision there.
Yeah. But it brings a lot of fun for us at least. It was a running joke. I love to draft the truck. Yeah. Shouting, 'Please put in the window lock. I want to sleep.' But there was no sleep on this trip at all.
Yeah. So we talked about the teams, design team and engineering. So Lars Moravy was at the X takeover last weekend. He was an amazing guy like you as well. We really felt that you two and your teams, of course Elon, but you three are the driving force of Tesla and why it's so successful over the years. How is the cooperation between the two teams and how often does Elon have to pick his side?
Usually never. I think Elon gives us both the same direction. We collectively figure out how to solve whatever the problem is using a first principles perspective. I think we collaborate probably more tightly than my experience in other manufacturers. That relationship is really important. An engineer can't really have struggles to find aesthetic beauty in a lot of their solutions because they're very focused on having the best path to the solution. Our job is to make that path very aesthetically beautiful. That only happens when you work together. Both of us realize we need each other to have the ultimately best product. It's a really tight relationship. We talk every day about all the different products, past and ongoing, always with an eye on how to make things better. The input from Elon is always around quality, being the best possible thing. Even when we come here, we want to focus on quality and experience and make sure the customer is happy. When you have a really good product, you get a great customer reaction. They want to tell people about the things they love. If they love a Tesla, they're going to be happy and talk about it. That helps spread virality and gets other people into the great product. So back to your question, it's a really tight relationship. Communication is everything. Ultimately, we all want the best. Elon is demanding it, so we have to deliver.
But you deliver big time. So you're doing a great job bringing the great designs which you love and also the other aspects, safety of course, and manufacturing it well.
I think it's a little known thing that Teslas are the safest vehicles on the road. It's an important metric that we take internally really seriously. It's my job to make it not necessarily look like it's super safe, but that they actually are. Lars does a great job and his team does a great job of designing and engineering that all Tesla products are the top safest vehicles you could put your family in. We need more people to know about that. I always try to tell people, if you have kids, you want them in the safest product on the road. It should be a Tesla.
So friends, to the next question. Do you have artists or designers which you get inspired from?
Inspiration comes from a variety of different places and people. Just observation in the world, depending on where we are at a moment in time, whether we're working on a project like the diner or the Roadster or Cybertruck, they all have inspiration from absorbing what's in your space at that time. I don't really have any favorites. I'm a designer, so I'm fickle and always changing my mind. It's a really hard question to answer because it's never the same.
Are there special spots where you get inspired or is there a creative process? Like when you're in nature, you get inspired, or in the bathroom, I don't know.
It happens driving somewhere, in the shower, out and about, or just in a conversation. Having a Eureka moment, every project is different. It's tough to pin down. Constantly thinking about what's the next best thing. I don't have a good answer for that. Sorry. I'm inspired by mid-century modern architecture. I don't know.
Is there a special product from Tesla that your family and you love the most? You have to pick one.
As a family, we probably spend the most time in a Model X. It's a really versatile vehicle. We can fit our kids, our dogs, everything in that. So we collectively spend a lot of time there. But personally, the Model S for me is still a modern car on the road today after 10, 12 years. It's over 15 years since I started designing that car and it still looks fresh and modern on the road today. There's something about that. It's a really amazingly engineered car. It's a supercar in wolf's clothing. You don't realize that until you do a quarter mile launch or something. It's incredible. It hurts your eyeballs. So I have a sweet spot for that. But I also like the Cybertruck. It's such a special unique vehicle. There are so many firsts there and such a radical departure from expectation. We zagged when everybody thought we were going to zig. It's a great driving car. It's the most comfortable car. When I'm driving around, I feel the most comfortable in that car. It's changing the landscape of the roads in a way no other car is doing. So I'm partial to that as well. Each car has so much blood, sweat, and tears that go into it that they're all like kids. How do you pick your favorite kid?
You see, it changes the picture on the road. As we were in Nevada two days ago, there is also an important thing that changed the road. The semi truck. We saw it. Great. What do you think about the truck?
The semi truck is an amazing product. It's going to transform shipping and transporting goods. As autonomy comes on and we have this autonomous vehicle that can transport goods, it's really going to transform how we move product in a way that still looks cool. It looks futuristic and good. That project was amazing. At the onset, we realized we had a very unconventional setup with the batteries and motors. We didn't have a big engine in the front. So very quickly we thought, how do we make the best driving experience for the operator? Putting the driver in the center like a McLaren F1 gave them a command view. It's an amazing experience behind the glass, driving down the road with amazing visibility. There's so much more space in the cab as an office. This is their office space. We're giving that back to the driver. But as we move forward, the driver becomes somewhat obsolete with autonomy. But we're still able to transport goods and continue to radically transform transportation. The semi is going to be an ongoing story of how the future of transportation evolves, but it can still be attractive and futuristic feeling. It's not a traditional box. In Europe, you have these flat, straight up and down boxes that are not super inspiring.
Nope. Well, you're a great car designer obviously. But if you could help Elon in one of his 27 other companies he runs, which company or product from Elon's companies would you love to work on and help design?
I've never really thought about it. But I think what's happening at SpaceX and where they're going to Mars would be amazing to be a part of. Terraforming a new planet, all the bits and pieces you need, trying to make that not just clunky boxes but really aesthetically beautiful as a starting point for a new civilization on a new planet. I think that would be awesome.
