I think Tesla’s chief designer Franz von Holzhausen doesn’t get nearly enough credit for the company’s success.
He created a look in 2012 for the Model S that’s still in use with only minor variations across the company’s range. The best-selling Model Y is instantly recognizable as a cousin of the original S.
The design doesn’t look like most American cars from the same era. It eliminated grilles and other aggressively masculine elements. It has a sophisticated softness that would pass for European, yet it also has an edge that communicates the hidden power of the full-electric system. It’s pretty unique that one design manages to hold desirability for a decade.
Other car makers would have revamped a design several times already. So Tesla is clearly taking a risk that their signature look grows tired and commonplace.
The Cybertruck seems like overcorrection in the other direction. It also smells of the CEO’s influence overriding the car industry experience of von Holzhausen. Musk’s companies seem to do best when he’s focusing on fundraising and hiring, leaving product and operations to others.
I agree the Model S was a pretty good departure when debuted but in 2023 it's looking dated. And not because it didn't follow the aggresive trend of cars from 2015 onwards but it just didn't evolve over time. The tiny facelifts here and there didn't really bring the design philosophy forward, it feels stuck.
When I look at a Tesla on the streets these days they start to look like the past is coming to them, of course this view is pretty shallow but I can't shake it.
To me of all their designs the S is the only one that stands out as an “attractive” car design to me. Model 3, Y, X all look like pregnant roller skates to me, and don’t get me started on that cybertruck monstrosity.
Is not the air intake and air cooling elements themselves that are masculine per se, it’s some of the designs for air intake and air cooling elements.
Rule of thumb is that the bigger and more attention grabbing it is, the more masculine it tends to be.
Use lots of straight lines and (faux-)chrome elements to grab attention for maximum masculinity.
Or just use the hot rod style cheat code and completely break the contours of the car for ultra masculinity.
Simple example would be comparing the front of a VW Golf with the front of a BMW M3.
With the Golf, most people don’t even realize they’re staring at the air intake, whereas with the M3 it’s staring you in the face, some might even call it “aggressive” looking.
Yes, I gather that you didn't talk a lot to design people and marketing people, but 'masculine' features/design exist. Rough, agressive edges will sell well with western males, empty spaces with others, whereas fuller and more round designs will sell well with western females.
That's also why tech companies, following Facebook's lead, redesigned their icons/website to be less marked, a bit more unisex.
It's also why I think that if X don't want to be an incel's nest, will have to redesign sometime soon. Its users are 4% more male than last year (59%), and it was one of the most masculine social network already.
The grilles and other air intake openings definitely got much more aggressive since 2015, it's one trend of car design I hate because it's just there for shock value.
The Cybertruck seems like overcorrection in the other direction. It also smells of the CEO’s influence overriding the car industry experience of von Holzhausen. Musk’s companies seem to do best when he’s focusing on fundraising and hiring, leaving product and operations to others.
It would be a mistake to think that Elon Musk don't have a hand in the Model S design. He's that kind of person who obsess every little details, regardless of his expertise or how ill advised his choices is.
Musk is a product person, not a fundraising and hiring person.
> He's that kind of person who obsess every little details
People said the same thing about Steve Jobs.
This was in part because he would even focus on design details on the inside of devices that most would never see, the iMac G3 would be the first example of this.
Somehow I suspect that Jobs would have an aneurism if he’d be heading Tesla and saw the paneling issues and the welds his cars would be delivered with.
He created a look in 2012 for the Model S that’s still in use with only minor variations across the company’s range. The best-selling Model Y is instantly recognizable as a cousin of the original S.
The design doesn’t look like most American cars from the same era. It eliminated grilles and other aggressively masculine elements. It has a sophisticated softness that would pass for European, yet it also has an edge that communicates the hidden power of the full-electric system. It’s pretty unique that one design manages to hold desirability for a decade.
Other car makers would have revamped a design several times already. So Tesla is clearly taking a risk that their signature look grows tired and commonplace.
The Cybertruck seems like overcorrection in the other direction. It also smells of the CEO’s influence overriding the car industry experience of von Holzhausen. Musk’s companies seem to do best when he’s focusing on fundraising and hiring, leaving product and operations to others.