Original Tesla Cybertruck Concepts Unveiled: The Making of a Sci-Fi Reality

Original Cybertruck sketches and concepts

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When Elon Musk gazed upon a Ford truck approximately six years ago, he found it decidedly dull. Dissatisfied with the conventional, he enlisted Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla's chief designer, to create something radical: the Tesla Cybertruck. This intriguing anecdote, offered by Musk’s biographer, famed author Walter Isaacson on a recent CNBC podcast, provides a captivating glimpse into the creative genesis of this revolutionary vehicle.

In his forthcoming biography about Musk, Isaacson - who spent the last three years studying Musk's unique ethos and approach to innovation - describes a fascinating moment in Tesla's history.

The announcement of the first Cybertruck rolling off the production line in Giga Texas, sparked an explosion in related news, presenting a perfect opportunity for Isaacson to share more insights via Twitter. He posted an image displaying an array of initial Cybertruck sketches, alongside a compelling medley of inspirational references, such as the DeLorean, RoboCop, tanks, and images from the movie Tron.

A photo collage of Cybertruck inspirations

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The Future Looking Like the Future: Musk’s Unconventional Vision

Despite the success of the Model Y, Musk did not want to play it safe with the Cybertruck. He desired a design that was bold and surprising. A question posed by his son Saxon added a profound layer to Musk's quest for originality. “Why doesn’t the future look like the future?” This question resonated with Musk, who reiterated it to his design team, underlining his craving for a paradigm-shifting design.

In a pivotal meeting fraught with resistance, Musk declared, "We are going to do this whole thing in stainless steel.” As Isaacson astutely observes, using stainless steel meant the limitations of traditional manufacturing processes no longer constrained the design team. Instead, it ushered in a realm of sharp angles, straight planes, and a daring, even jarring aesthetic - a veritable embodiment of Musk’s “demon mode.”

A Bold Approach: From Video Games and Sci-Fi Movies to Reality

In another tweet, Isaacson elaborated further on the design process. The team had set up a visual juxtaposition in their workspace, with pictures of a vast spectrum of vehicles - ranging from sleek video game designs to rugged sci-fi movie vehicles - displayed alongside a Chevy Silverado. The intent was clear; to break the mold and redefine what a truck could be.

There were dissenting voices, however, questioning the commercial viability of a hyper-futuristic truck. Yet Musk, unflinching in his resolve, famously retorted, "I don’t care if no one buys it. We’re not doing a traditional boring truck. We can always do that later. I want to build something that’s cool. Like, don’t resist me."

This intriguing behind-the-scenes insight serves as a testament to Musk's audacious vision, substantiating why he previously described the Cybertruck as a "futuristic-like cyberpunk Blade Runner design" and an "armored personnel carrier." With the Cybertruck, the future no longer has to look like the past. It can indeed, as Musk so desired, look like the future.

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Tesla Holiday Update Wishlist - Tesla App Edition

@niccruzpatane

So, with Halloween all squared away, the next big holiday coming up is Christmas. Each year, Tesla releases a big Holiday update packed with features. Last year’s update included some awesome features, including alternate routes, the Vision upgrade for Park Assist, Speed Cameras and Traffic Light icons, and the Automatic Blind Spot indicator, among others.

We already know that update 2024.44 - the Holiday Update Branch - is coming with Blind Spot Monitoring while Parked, Supercharger Improvements, and more. But, we’ve got a ton of good ideas that we hope will make the list, so put down your pumpkin spice, and grab your egg nog. It’s the holidays, and it’ll be Cybertruck’s first Christmas, so let’s celebrate!

Apple Watch App

First up—the Apple Watch app. This has been a highly requested feature over the past couple of years, and it looks like Tesla is listening. Tesla has apparently already begun development to support the Apple Watch in app update 4.38, so we’re expecting this to arrive as part of the big Holiday update. We’d love to see an equivalent app for Android-based watches, too.

Phone Left on Charger Alert

It’s easy to forget your phone inside of the vehicle, especially if it’s on the phone dock. A simple app alert that a phone has been left in the vehicle would be really useful. Tesla could potentially even tell the difference between a driver’s phone and a passenger’s phone, depending on the vehicle’s profile being used or which doors were open and closed.

Either way, just receiving an app notification if a phone is left in the car would be really useful, especially since your phone is your car key.

Light Show Support

Tesla Lightshows are great, but they could be made even better with Tesla app support. At the very least, it’d be great to be able to start/schedule or stop a light show from the app.

To really make light shows shine, Tesla could add the ability to create a light show directly from the app. Right now creating a light show involves using the open-source app xLights on a computer, so a simplified version of it running in the app would make it accessible to a lot more users.

Precondition Battery Button

Similar to an in-vehicle preconditioning button for 3^rd party chargers, the Tesla App should also have a button to precondition the battery. This will make it easy for users, especially those who don’t have home charging – to get their vehicles ready for DC Fast Charging before departing.

Garage Door Controls

Tesla owners with HomeLink can control their garage doors directly from the vehicle. However, the Tesla app currently only allows users to open the first programmed garage door and doesn’t give the user access to any of the other programmed doors. Adding the option to choose which garage door to open via the HomeLink button would be a valuable addition—especially useful when paired with Actually Smart Summon.

Drive Stats

While Tesla already records and displays charging sessions in the app’s Charge Stats section, it’d be really helpful if Tesla also added the ability to record drives. That way, you could easily track how much your vehicle was driven on a particular day, week, or over the course of the year.

If you have any other suggestions, let us know in our forums. Who knows, some Tesla product managers may even be listening.

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Tesla Adds Interest-Free Payment Plan to Tesla Shop - FSD Payment Plan Next?

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Tesla has added payment plan options to its shop items for the first time. They’ve partnered with Klarna, a deferred payment provider, to spread the cost of items across multiple payments. For now, this appears to be limited to the Tesla Shop in the United States—no support for other regions quite yet.

Payment Options

Klarna’s primary payment option allows buyers to get 0% APR for 6 weeks, with 4 payments. The payment schedule is essentially one payment every two weeks for whichever product you buy - enabling you to buy now, and pay later with 0% financing.

For example, the payment schedule for the $420 Wall Connector is evenly divided into four portions. Of course, you’d also have to pay for shipping and taxes, both of which will be included in your first payment.

For some of Tesla’s more expensive Shop options - like the Cybertent, this could be a fantastic means for some owners to pick up something more expensive without having to worry about interest charges on their credit card.

Klarna also offers some other payment schedules, which do have interest. While these are far more expensive and are more like credit cards, they still provide buyers a means to buy now and pay over time. These are all open loans as well, so you can pay them down at a faster rate, thereby reducing the overall interest.

FSD Payment Options?

We’d love to see an equivalent payment option available for Tesla’s FSD purchase, which is currently $8,000, even if it's bought after the vehicle purchase. The high upfront cost is likely one reason why Tesla’s FSD subscription is so popular.

It’s likely that purchasing FSD is much more popular at the time of vehicle purchase, as owners can roll the cost of FSD into their financing rather than paying the full $8,000 later on.

IPO Filing

Interestingly enough, along with today’s news that Klarna is working with Tesla, Klarna has also filed for an IPO in the United States. It is one of the first financial tech (FinTech) companies to file for an IPO in 2025 and, interestingly, one of the first European companies to conduct an IPO in the United States.

For those who trade in the financial sector, this will be one to watch—Klarna was valued at around $46 billion in 2021 and is now valued at approximately $15 billion. Partnering with a large and well-known brand like Tesla could uplift Klarna, but that’s all financial speculation.

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