Lifestyle
Tesla’s Franz von Holzhausen joins list of Most Creative People in Business
Tesla’s Chief of Design Franz von Holzhausen was listed as one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business for 2018. The publication listed von Holzhausen as No.6 in its list, directly behind the Parkland Five, teenage activists who triggered the March for Our Lives Movement. According to Fast Company, it awarded the designer a high rank in its list for repeatedly “redefining Tesla’s electric cars.”
In a statement to Fast Company, von Holzhausen described that the next-generation Roadster as a vehicle that can truly show the superiority of electric cars over gas-powered supercars.
“We want to show that an electric vehicle can be better than anything. Not just better than a normal road car, but better than any supercar,” he said.
Franz von Holzhausen started his work at Tesla back in 2008. During that time, Tesla Motors, as the company was named then, was only selling one vehicle — the original Tesla Roadster — an electric car that was based on the Lotus Elise. When he joined Tesla, von Holzhausen was actually taking a risk, considering that his credentials already included work on two of General Motors’ most attractive vehicles — the Pontiac Solstice and the Saturn Sky. Pictures of these cars can be found below.
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- The Pontiac Solstice, a vehicle designed by Franz von Holzhausen.
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- The Saturn Sky, a vehicle designed by Franz von Holzhausen.
After his stint at GM, von Holzhausen went on to Mazda North America, where he continued his work designing vehicles. Von Holzhausen could have easily stayed and made his career in Mazda then, considering that his work, especially in the company’s concept cars, was well-appreciated. That is, of course, until he met Elon Musk. Von Holzhausen joined Tesla in 2008, a time when the electric car company was quite literally on the verge of going under.
Franz von Holzhausen was presented with a unique opportunity at Tesla. The company knew that it had to move beyond the Roadster at some point, and efforts were underway to develop Whitestar, a full-sized luxury sedan that would be designed and built from the ground up as an electric vehicle. Von Holzhausen and his team worked at the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, CA, designing the car from a blank slate. The results of these efforts was the Model S sedan.
The Model S is pretty much the embodiment of von Holzhausen’s signature style — cars that are understated, sleek, elegant, and efficient. The car designer’s aesthetic extended beyond the Model S’ exterior as well, as evidenced by the vehicle’s minimalistic, tech-driven interior. The Model S would go on to win numerous praises from reviewers and buyers. Consumer Reports even dubbed the vehicle as the best car it ever tested.
Franz von Holzhausen’s trademark design carried over to Tesla’s next two vehicles, the Model X and the Model 3 — a car that is expected to push the company into becoming a true mass-market automaker. The Model 3 is smaller than the Model S, but it is just as sleek and attractive. The interior of the vehicle is even more radical than the Model S and Model X, featuring a wooden dashboard that goes from one end of the car to another and a single, center-mounted 15-inch display.
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- The Model 3 without its steering column. [Credit: My Tesla Adventure/Facebook]
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- A driverless Chevy Bolt EV.
Ultimately, the Model 3’s interior design invokes a future when cars would do most, if not all, of the driving themselves. A simple side-by-side comparison of a driverless Model 3 and Chevy Bolt EV’s interior shows just how forward-thinking von Holzhausen’s designs are for the compact electric car.
Just like Tesla’s other executives like CTO JB Straubel, Franz von Holzhausen is known for being as understated as he is down-to-earth. Earlier this year, von Holzhausen was instrumental in giving a Tesla advocate who was fighting cancer a specialized, personal tour of the Fremont factory. Back in April, von Holzhausen also gave a would-be Model 3 owner a pleasant surprise by personally delivering the vehicle.
Elon Musk
Tesla ditches India after years of broken promises
Tesla has ditched its plans to build a factory in India after years of failed negotiations.
Tesla’s long-running effort to establish a manufacturing presence in India is officially over. India’s Minister of Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy confirmed on May 19, 2026 that Tesla has informed authorities it will not proceed with a manufacturing facility in the country.
Tesla first signaled serious interest in India around 2021, when it began hiring local staff and lobbying the Indian government for lower import tariffs. The ask was straightforward: reduce duties enough for Tesla to test the market with imported vehicles before committing capital to a local factory. India’s position was equally firm, with an ask of Tesla to commit to manufacturing first, then receive tariff relief. Neither side moved, and the talks quietly collapsed.
Tesla to open first India experience center in Mumbai on July 15
India had offered a policy that would reduce import duties from 110% down to 15% on EVs priced above $35,000, provided companies committed at least $500 million toward local manufacturing investment within three years. Tesla declined to participate. The tariff standoff was only part of the problem. Analysts pointed to significant gaps in India’s local supply chain, inadequate industrial infrastructure, and a mismatch between Tesla’s premium pricing and the purchasing power of India’s automotive market as additional factors that made the investment difficult to justify.
First signs of an unraveling relationship came in April 2024, when Musk abruptly cancelled a planned trip to India where he was set to meet Prime Minister Modi and announce Tesla’s market entry. By July 2024, Fortune reported that Tesla executives had stopped contacting Indian government officials entirely. The government at that point understood Tesla had capital constraints and no plans to invest.
The more fundamental issue is that Tesla’s existing factories are currently operating at approximately 60% capacity, making a commitment to building new manufacturing capacity in a new market difficult to defend to investors. Tesla will continue selling imported Model Y vehicles through its existing showrooms in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru, but local production is no longer part of the plan.
Elon Musk
Trump’s invite for Elon just reshuffled Tesla’s big Signature Delivery Event
Tesla rescheduled its final Model S farewell to May 20 after Musk joined Trump in China.
Tesla has rescheduled its Model S and Model X Signature Edition delivery event to Wednesday, May 20, 2026, after abruptly calling off the original May 12 celebration. The event will take place at Tesla’s factory at 45500 Fremont Boulevard in Fremont, California, the same location where the Model S first rolled off the line in 2012. Invitees received a follow-up email asking them to reconfirm attendance and download a new QR code ticket, with Tesla noting that all travel and accommodation expenses remain the buyer’s responsibility.
The reason behind the original cancellation came into focus the same day it was announced. President Trump invited Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, and executives from Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, Citigroup, and Meta to join his trip to China this week for a summit with President Xi Jinping. The agenda covers trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan, and the Iran war, following weeks of escalating friction between Washington and Beijing over AI technology, sanctions, and rare earth exports. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I am very much looking forward to my trip to China, an amazing Country, with a Leader, President Xi, respected by all.”
Tesla launches 200mph Model S “Gold” Signature in invite-only purchase
The vehicles at the center of all this are the last Model S and Model X units Tesla will ever build. Priced at $159,420 each, the 250 Model S and 100 Model X Signature Edition units come finished in Garnet Red with a one-year no-resale agreement, giving Tesla right of first refusal if the owner decides to sell. As Teslarati reported, the Model S defined Tesla’s early identity as a serious luxury automaker, and the Fremont factory line that built it is now being converted to manufacture Optimus humanoid robots.
Musk’s inclusion in the China delegation drew attention given his very public relationship with Trump, and the invitation signals the two have moved past and past grievances. Trump originally brought Musk on to lead the Department of Government Efficiency following his inauguration, and despite a sharp public dispute in mid-2025, the two have appeared together repeatedly in recent months. A seat on the China trip, the most diplomatically consequential visit of Trump’s current term, puts Musk back at the table on U.S. economic policy at a moment when Tesla’s China revenue remains one of the company’s most important financial pillars.
Lifestyle
Tesla Semi hauls fresh Cybercab batch as Robotaxi era takes hold
A Tesla Semi was filmed hauling Cybercab units out of Giga Texas for the first time.
A Tesla Semi loaded with Cybercab units was recently filmed leaving Gigafactory Texas, marking what appears to be the first documented delivery run of Tesla’s autonomous two-seater. The footage shows multiple Cybercabs secured on a flatbed trailer being hauled by a production Tesla Semi, a truck rated for a gross combination weight of 82,000 lbs. The location is consistent with Giga Texas in Austin, where Cybercab production has been ramping since February 2026.
The sighting follows a wave of Cybercab activity at the Austin facility. In late April, drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer spotted approximately 60 Cybercabs parked in two organized groups in the factory’s outbound lot, the largest concentration observed to date. Units being staged in an outbound lot is a standard pre-delivery step, and the Semi footage is the logical next frame in that sequence.
En route with @tesla_semi pic.twitter.com/ZfuOjaeLH1
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) May 7, 2026
This is not the first time Tesla has used its own Semi to move Tesla products. When the Semi was unveiled in 2017, Musk noted it would be used for Tesla’s own operations, and over the years Semi prototypes were spotted carrying cargo ranging from concrete weights to Tesla vehicles being delivered to consumers. In 2023, a Semi was photographed transporting a Cybertruck on a trailer ahead of that vehicle’s delivery launch.
The Cybercab itself was first revealed publicly at Tesla’s “We, Robot” event on October 10, 2024, at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, where 20 pre-production units gave attendees rides around the studio lot. Musk stated at the event that Tesla intends to produce the Cybercab before 2027. The first production unit rolled off the Giga Texas line on February 17, 2026, with Musk posting on X: “Congratulations to the Tesla team on making the first production Cybercab.”
Tesla’s annual production goal is 2 million Cybercabs per year once multiple factories reach full design capacity, with the company targeting a price under $30,000 per unit. Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its robotaxi service to seven cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, building on the unsupervised service already running in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year.
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