Franz Von Holzhausen joins the Tesla Takeover Europe - Exclusive Interview

Yeah. Welcome. Great to see you all. Sorry I couldn't be there in person.

I mean, awesome to see everybody gathered. We super appreciate all of your enthusiasm, love for our brand, especially, you know, Tesla's an amazing company, but it only really exists because of, people like you and the people that help support it by buying our products and living the dream in a way. So, we super appreciate that. Thank you so much.

Of course. Sure.

It's great that Andre's there. He was such an inspiration for our team as well. And his enthusiasm was just electric, you know. It was great being around him. He's such a smart little guy and yeah, really appreciated having him around and hope you can come back and we can show him some more cool stuff.

Of course I do remember.

I'm Andre. Good to see you. When are you coming back to visit us?

Awesome. You're welcome back.

I mean, to me, every day I see somebody in a Tesla, it just I don't know, it makes me feel like what we're doing, our ideas, our mission is actually worth something and it is changing the world. And I think, you know, my job is to make this technology that's so incredible attractive and easy to use and easy to love. And I think we've done a pretty decent job at that. And I think when I like like the question says, when I see people interacting with their Tesla, it just reminds me that, you know, it's not just us who are thinking about this mission, the people that are working at Tesla. It's much bigger than that. And we've created something great that people aspire to and feel great about. In the early days when we were first just developing the Roadster, I would see a Roadster on the road and I knew who that person was because the community was so small. But now, you know, now that there's Teslas everywhere and around the world, there's no way to have a personal relationship with anybody. But it just makes me feel like we're doing something right. I think as a community together, we're actually combating this addiction to fossil fuel, which I think is really important. And I think we're just moving an entire generation of transportation forward. I think if you know what we're doing and what you guys believe in and you know participate in by purchasing a Tesla and being part of our community, you're moving a whole generation of transportation in a different and better direction. And I think that's the most important part. So that's what keeps me inspired and keeps me going and wanting to continue to build this community and make a better, better vehicles for mobility and getting us around safer. And also I think just leaving behind a better planet.

Thank you very much. We can create these products but if the people aren't interested in them or aren't attracted to them or don't believe in them then it doesn't matter. So I think we've found something that people resonate with both on the mission side and the product side, something that makes their lives, you know, your lives safer and better. And we need to keep on that mission. And I think, you know, as we continue to deliver autonomy, then I think more and more people have access to mobility and really a freedom to move about that they've never experienced before. And I'm really excited about where the next chapter of autonomy will bring us and free up the ability for everybody to have some freedom and get around and go to places where before they weren't able to go, and then with the help of Optimus basically free up their lives to not have to do mundane tasks anymore. I mean it's a pretty awesome future.

I think from an interior perspective in our vehicles, I always thought that the screen, the interaction experience is really what I call the hero of the interior. It's the thing that you interface with. It's constantly improving. It's the thing that makes your car better and better all the time. And we can deliver so many special elements like, you know, games and movies and entertainment and ways to listen to audio that I think are unparalleled, there's no other vehicle that can deliver so much in an infotainment system and as easy to use as what we're trying to achieve. And so for me, the hero of the interior is really this element that allows you to do the things that you want to do, work when you need to work, be entertained when you want to be entertained, listen to your favorite podcasts or music, or just see where you're going on your journey. And I think that's the thing that will continue to evolve. And our interiors are designed to embrace that and make that experience make you feel comfortable in a space and have all these things at your fingertips. And then the ability to a product doesn't have to be cold and stale and serious. And I think when we put in some ideas like dog mode or fart on command or whatever, we bring some levity to your interaction with what has been known as kind of a just a transportation device like a cold sterile product. So, I think the ability to add some fun and levity into your life as you're moving around is something we'll continue to do. And so we're always open to ideas on how to make things better and we always welcome if anybody ever has any thoughts on how to make the overall experience in our interiors better. We thrive on trying to be better and better every day. So always welcome to suggestions and you can post them, you can send to us however you want. But we make the products get better because we have feedback from our customers. That's really great and we listen to it and we try to incorporate that. And I believe, you know, you can buy a car now, but you can rest assured that it will be better in one year's time or two years time than when you purchased it. The experience will be better, the ambiance will be better, the overall kind of use of the car will be better. And there's no other vehicle that does that today.

On the most difficult design decisions on Cybercab? Actually they're fairly easy. I think we were trying to make the car feel almost like a sci-fi futuristic product and getting really big wheels on a car is always a challenge with the engineers. So from a design perspective we were really excited about making big wheels and making the car feel really futuristic but the engineering team was really struggling with this. So, that would be a good question for Lars to come up from, but, you know, I think it's always interesting. We're so used to designing a car with pedals and steering wheel and the idea that you drive it. That's just something that we've all grown up with. And I think when we start working on the space where there's no pedals and no steering wheel and the car is actually doing the work and you're now a passenger, everybody in the vehicle is a passenger. I think that opens up the idea on what a vehicle can be. And in Cybercab, if you have a chance to sit in it, you start to realize that it's a more relaxed environment. It's a more comfortable seating position. The seats are more like a couch than an automotive seat. And I think you start to see the relaxation that you can have knowing that somebody something else is doing the hard work and that you'll be safe. So, I think there were things that we always take for granted as we're designing products, especially vehicles, that we had to let go of. And it's a new frontier. Autonomy is new for everybody, including us. And so we're working in that space and trying to be really creative. But really focused on how the person that's in the vehicle can feel relaxed and comfortable and realize that the vehicle is much safer than they ever could be as they're driving and allow them to relax and have a better experience.

Well, okay. The one that I think is maybe the hardest to have absorbed, but it's understandable is when we decided to stop producing Model S and Model X. Two weeks ago, we said goodbye to Model S and Model X. We handed over the very last vehicles and you know that was 18 years of working on one product or two products and 14 years of production and I think both those vehicles especially the Model S look extremely modern and relevant on the road today and so I think having to say goodbye and shut off production of those two products when they're amazing vehicles, that was a hard decision, probably one of the hardest ones. It was very bittersweet, but knowing that we're making room for the future and some of the stuff that we're working on in our studio and with the teams, making space for that new exciting autonomous future, makes that okay.

Of course.

Well, maybe you're going to see it very soon. I think our list is it maybe answers all those points that you just mentioned even with the interaction with our engineers and production and Elon etc. I think it's going to be one of those really unique products that I think is going to blow people away. So, I'm really excited about that.

Well, yeah, I mean, thank you guys. Like I said before, Tesla doesn't really exist without its customers and its fans and its enthusiasts, and you guys are off the charts. And we really appreciate that. And I think we can't continue to move forward without you guys being part of our family. So, thank you for that.