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Auto expert dubs Tesla Cybertruck as Elon Musk’s boldest, greatest creation yet
The Tesla Cybertruck’s design has been teased by Elon Musk long before it was unveiled, yet the vehicle still dropped jaws when it rolled out on stage during its unveiling event. The Cybertruck has notably polarized the car community, but if a veteran auto expert is any indication, the vehicle may very well be one of Elon Musk’s boldest, greatest creations yet.
In an extensive discussion on his YouTube channel and an accompanying blog post, auto expert Jack Rickard covered several aspects of the Tesla Cybertruck, from its design to the underlying disruption that it would likely trigger in America’s pickup market. Rickard noted that despite its less-than-stellar unveiling, he believes that the Cybertruck may very well be the “most brilliant thing” Elon Musk has ever done, and the “most brilliant design” that Franz von Holfhausen has ever issued.
Rickard argued that with the Cybertruck, Tesla has effectively gone for the pickup market’s jugular by releasing a vehicle that is competitive in cost but exceeding its rivals in terms of toughness and durability, power, spaciousness, and off-road capability. With this particular combination in mind, Rickard noted that he believes the Cybertruck would be “astonishingly successful.”
Pickup trucks, apart from vehicles that are used for work, are also vehicles that invoke toughness. This is evident in the way each of the Big Three in the US promotes their flagship pickups: the F-150, Silverado, and Ram are tough vehicles that can tow and take punishment, but Rickard notes that over the years, these trucks have reached a point where it has become difficult to take them through punishing conditions. “Since some of the larger more tricked out trucks can run $60-$80k, you don’t want to be squeamish about taking it offroad. But the gentle brush of a few branches and that stunning paint job turns to a scratched up mess,” Rickard wrote.
This is where the Cybertruck excels in. With its stainless steel exoskeleton, Tesla has pretty much hit the ball out of the park. The Cybertruck is unpainted and domineering, and it can literally take a sledgehammer without missing a beat. Its thin lights are even designed in such a way that it would be very difficult to break them. Much of this has to do with its origami-like XY design, which Rickard notes have been floated around for a long time but never attempted by mainstream manufacturers due to its challenges. “I predict that the shock of that design will be replaced by the genius of it,” the auto expert remarked.
The Cybertruck also excels in power and towing, two key features that are important for real pickup truck buyers. The tug-of-war demo between the Cybertruck and a screaming Ford F-150 spoke volumes: electric motors are more than capable of besting the internal combustion engine. Apart from this, the Cybertruck also has a cavernous interior, which pickup truck buyers would likely love. Six seats, ample legroom at the rear, and arguably the most massive center console in the market are things that the pickup market would not ignore.
Yet, perhaps the one thing that was largely ignored even in the Cybertruck’s unveiling was its off-road capability, which Rickard states are key to the pickup market. This is because when it comes to pickups, a vehicle must have ample off-road capability, even if it never goes beyond the road in its lifetime. In this regard, Rickard notes that Tesla seems to have knocked the ball out of the park once more. The auto veteran noted that the all-electric pickup reminds him of the Hummer H1, a true rough-and-tough vehicle before its line was toned down with the H2 and H3.
“This thing’s a Hummer. A Ford F-150, the tricked out 4×4 Supercrew cab, has 9.6” of ground clearance. This has 16” – that’s like a Hummer. I think the Hummer H1 was 16. So it makes a big difference in off-roading And underneath that, I’m told it’s all armored, it’s all covered, you can’t get at the motors, you can’t get at the batteries, it’s a skidplate. So specifically, on the things that define a pickup truck, and I’m surprised Elon Musk even knew what those were, but he’s got it, and that’s this offroad capability, and this kind of tough, durable, manly kind of gig,” Rickard remarked.
Overall, the Cybertruck may very well remain a polarizing vehicle for years to come, and some may never really grow to like its origami-style XY look. Despite this, Rickard believes that the vehicle hits all the right notes when it comes to price and features that are essential to the pickup buyer. In conclusion, the auto expert noted that some time from now, Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holfhausen would probably be inducted into the design hall of fame for actually pulling off an XY design. As for CEO Elon Musk, this may be his most brilliant vehicle yet.
“He hit all the right notes, on here is a truck you can take a sledgehammer to, and you can beat this truck all you want and it doesn’t even show damage. And it has an off-road capability in case you ever roll it up onto the front lawn of your house,” Rickard noted.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk calls Earth’s data centers “peanuts” next to what SpaceX is planning in orbit
Elon Musk says SpaceX capex efficiency is underestimated as orbital data centers loom by 2028.
Elon Musk is pushing back on one of the biggest worries hanging over SpaceX stock. In a reply on X on Sunday, Musk said the company’s capital expenditure efficiency is severely underestimated. He was responding to a Milk Road Stocks post citing analyst Kyle Reidhead, who estimates SpaceX will need to spend roughly $470 billion over the next five quarters.
Reidhead built that figure around the target SpaceX set on its third quarter earnings call: 13 gigawatts or more of compute by the end of 2027. In his breakdown, Nvidia captures 83 to 89 percent of the spending. SpaceX ended the quarter with 1.7 GW of nameplate compute and guided to $35 billion to $40 billion in fourth quarter capex, as Teslarati reported.
Musk did not attach a number to his claim, but the earnings call shows the argument. CFO Bret Johnsen said new compute currently pays for itself in under a year at today’s pricing, and Musk said that window could shrink to six months next year. Using that pace, Reidhead argues about $230 billion of the $470 billion could come from operating cash flow and about $60 billion from SpaceX’s roughly $90 billion cash pile, leaving around $180 billion to borrow. Musk confirmed last week that SpaceX had already closed a new $40 billion debt raise to buy GPUs.
The ground buildout is not the end goal. It is what is meant to pay for the move to orbit. Replying on Friday to charts built from Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire’s SpaceX model, Musk wrote that “Terrestrial compute will be peanuts compared to orbital compute,” adding that orbital compute deployed per month “probably exceeds terrestrial around the end of 2028 and then far exceeds it in 2029.”
Maguire’s model shows how steep that path is. It has capex climbing from $88 billion this year to $290 billion in 2027 and $369 billion in 2028, with SpaceX burning $77.8 billion in cash this year and $122.6 billion next year before turning $114.9 billion cash positive in 2028. Musk’s response to the model was, “I think we can do better.”
The orbital half runs through Starmind. SpaceX plans to operate up to 1 million AI satellites flying in clusters of about 10, linked by roughly 10 terabits of bandwidth, with deployment of thousands of units starting as soon as late 2027 out of its Gigasat factory in Bastrop, Texas, according to SpaceX’s space safety page. Musk has said each Starmind spacecraft will carry more than 250 kW of solar power.
Getting there depends on launch volume. Maguire’s model assumes 250 Starship flights in 2028, up from two this year and 38 next year. The nearer test is financial: SpaceX guided to $33 billion to $37 billion in first quarter 2027 revenue, more than double the $14.58 billion it booked in Q3, and Musk reposted that guidance again on Sunday morning.
Elon Musk
SpaceX President to gift Trump Accounts her SpaceX stock
Gwynne Shotwell’s 2 million SpaceX shares are headed to children’s Trump Accounts starting this December.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Friday that more than 2 million SpaceX shares belonging to her and her husband, Robert, will be distributed to children’s Trump Accounts in December, turning a pledge she made over the summer into an actual transfer. “Robert and I are thrilled that our gift of over 2 million shares of SpaceX stock will be distributed to children’s Trump accounts in December!” Shotwell wrote on X, adding that the shares are “transferring to escrow as we speak.”
The first round goes to children aged 11 to 17 who live in ZIP codes where the median family income is $57,000 or less, along with kids in ZIP codes with too few residents for the Census to report that figure. Shotwell said those families should receive a notice by Monday, Reuters reported.
A second gift is expected to be finalized in the next few weeks. That round will cover eligible children in military families serving overseas, children in foster care, and more kids in Texas counties near the Shotwells’ home where median family income is $90,000 or less. Elon Musk replied to the announcement with “Cool” and a heart emoji.
Shotwell first announced the donation on July 6, less than a month after SpaceX priced its record IPO at $135 per share on the Nasdaq. IPO filings showed Shotwell owned about 12.6 million SpaceX shares, Quartz reported at the time, which makes the gift roughly one sixth of her stake. At the roughly $146 per share used to value Musk’s own pledge earlier this month, 2 million shares are worth about $290 million.
How the stock would actually reach the accounts had been an open question since July. Treasury guidance acknowledged that stock donations could flow into Trump Accounts, but it did not explain the mechanics for a program whose contributions default into an S&P 500 index fund. Shotwell thanked the Treasury, the IRS, the Dell Foundation, Greater Horizons, Invest America and the law firms Morgan Lewis and Gibson Dunn for “working over the past few months to make this happen.”
The transfer also works as a dry run for a far larger gift. On October 19, Musk said he would give one of his SpaceX shares to every kid in America next year and called it “the first of many.” With roughly 72 million children in the country, that pledge is worth about $10.5 billion. President Donald Trump thanked Musk the same day and said the shares would go through Trump Accounts, though neither SpaceX nor the Treasury has published how or when that distribution will happen.
Shotwell’s recipients also fill a gap in the program itself. Trump Accounts launched on July 4, and the $1,000 Treasury deposit only goes to babies born between 2025 and 2028. Teenagers aged 11 to 17 receive no government seed money, so for many of the families getting a notice on Monday, SpaceX stock will be the first asset in the account. The accounts convert into retirement accounts when the child turns 18.
Tesla Full Self-Driving is now the centerpiece of the company’s newly revised Referral Program, which launched on October 29.
Instead of referring people to purchase vehicles and the referrer receiving $250 in Tesla Credit, the new program now incentivizes Full Self-Driving subscriptions.
If a Tesla owner is on an FSD trial and uses a referral code to subscribe to Full Self-Driving, the person whose Referral Link was used will receive one month of FSD (Supervised). Their code can be utilized 12 times per year, with January 1 marking the reset date.
Realistically, this means that if your Referral Code is used by 12 Tesla owners on an FSD trial, you will receive a full year of FSD for free.
🚨 Here is Tesla’s new Referral Program for Full Self-Driving (Supervised):
When someone subscribes to FSD using your link, you’ll get a month free. Up to a year of FSD is available to you for free!
If you’d like to use my link: https://t.co/g00IX9OCE3 https://t.co/GFBzEO2jjS
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 30, 2026
The previous program made it pretty difficult to get referrals; buying a vehicle is obviously a much larger financial strain than subscribing to Full Self-Driving for a month.
Of course, the previous Referral Program also offered a tangible benefit: $250 in credits you could use on Service, Supercharging, or anything in the Tesla Shop. It truly could pay for someone’s travel for a year. It recently bought me a new backpack and a T-shirt.
However, this new program is much more attainable for those who do not have a massive online presence of a slew of friends in the Tesla community who will use the code and max out subscriptions for vehicle purchases.
Woke up to maxed out Referrals! Thank you guys, that’s awesome!
Share your referral link below so others can use it! https://t.co/kesbwTcoTV
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 30, 2026
The Full Self-Driving suite will now be the keystone of the Referral Program, which makes it more inclusive and more fun for everyone with an awesome benefit.
It also gives the impression that Tesla is truly focused on FSD subscriptions, something that saw a tremendous increase in volume in Q3, as 75 percent of deliveries for the quarter came with an FSD subscription attached.
Full Self-Driving data is so instrumental to the suite’s improvement that this kind of program benefits Tesla as much as it does the consumer.
Elon Musk calls Earth’s data centers “peanuts” next to what SpaceX is planning in orbit
SpaceX President to gift Trump Accounts her SpaceX stock
