Elon Musk Biographer Reveals How Tesla CEO Dreamt Up The Cybertruck After Finding Rival Product 'Boring'

Elon Musk‘s biographer Walter Isaacson on Monday revealed how the Tesla Inc TSLA CEO came up with the idea of the Cybertruck.

What Happened: Six years ago, Musk was sitting with his designer Franz von Holzhausen and looking at a Ford truck, Isaacson said, adding that Musk found it boring. “And he does not like to be bored.”

So the CEO pulled up ideas from movies, sci-fi and video games, according to Isaacson, and said, “I want it (a truck) like that.” 

Though everybody pushed back on the ideas at the meeting, Musk said “We are going to do it and we are going to make it edgy,” Isaacson said.

“I am not somebody who will buy something just to make a statement coming down the road, but I think a lot of people like it,” the biographer said about the Cybertruck.

Isaacson spent the last three years studying Musk up close for his upcoming book. On an episode of CNBC’s Squawk pod from Monday, he said his admiration for Musk as an engineer has only increased over the past three years. 

However, “I don’t think he has a fingertip feel for empathy emotions,” Isaacson added.

When asked if he is being more lenient on Musk as they are close, Isaacson said, “He has a ‘demon mode’ that is destructive. The question when you write a biography though, is how you take a dark thread and realize you can’t just pull them out. He wouldn’t be who he is without both his demon mode and his drive.”

Why It Matters: The Cybertruck electric pickup truck was inspired by the cult 1982 sci-fi film "Blade Runner" and a vehicle in the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me," and has seen a ton of attention thanks to its design and it being the first truck from Tesla. 

During Tesla's annual shareholder meeting in May, Musk said a delivery event for the vehicle would be held later this year. He added that it would be the vehicle he drives on a day-to-day basis and expects to sell 250,000 to 500,000 Cybertrucks every year once production is fully ramped up.

The first Cybertruck rolled off the production line at Giga Texas over the weekend.

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Read More: As Tesla’s First Cybertruck Rolls Out, Analyst Details How The EV Pickup Truck Could Be Priced Versus Rival Offerings From Ford, Rivian