Musk is responsible for ＂painting cakes＂ and he built Tesla cars.
Fenghuang net technology Xiaoyu
Core tip:
1. As the chief designer of Tesla, holz Hausen wants to turn Musk’s vague idea into a real car.
2. He is good at combining minimalist and technologically avant-garde interior with modern appearance, such as retractable door handles or panoramic glass skylights.
3. Cyberruck’s design violated holz Hausen’s aesthetic style, but moved Musk.
4. holz Hausen’s next major test will be to design more affordable Tesla models.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, once told his chief designer that he wanted to build an electric pickup truck with good driving power and a closed container, which "feels like the future".
This task falls to Franz von Holzhausen, who wants to read the boss’s meaning.
"My job is to simplify things and explain his words clearly."Holz Hausen said in an interview recently.
Holz Hausen, 55, is a veteran who has worked in Tesla for 15 years. He is one of the most senior executives of Tesla and has led the design of almost all Tesla models. In 2008, Musk dug holz Hausen from Mazda to Tesla.From the first day, he reported directly to Musk, longer than anyone else in Tesla.
Over the years, his designs have combined minimalist and technologically avant-garde interiors with modern appearances, which has made him famous, such as retractable door handles or panoramic glass skylights. His design further proves that electric cars are not only more beneficial to the environment, but also cool and enterprising.
Now, holz Hausen is facing the next major test:Tesla is preparing to launch a more affordable electric car in order to enhance the company’s appeal in the mass market and target buyers with more tight budgets.At present, the starting price of Tesla cars in the United States is about $39,000.
Founder of Cybertruck
As the chief design officer of Tesla, holz Hausen wants to translate Musk’s sometimes vague ideas into actual car lines, surfaces and contours.
Cybertruck is an example. This pickup truck with hard edges and flat stainless steel panels is an extreme design. It deviated from the design concept of holz Hausen, whose early works focused on curves and smooth lines.
"Most designers find it hard to believe that this car is really designed by holz Hausen, because it is really not his aesthetic style." J Mays, a senior car designer, said that he worked with holz Hausen in the 1990s.
According to people involved in the research and development of Cyberruck, the development of Cyberruck has been full of twists and turns until 2019.
Dave Dave Morris, holz Hausen’s long-term deputy at Tesla, said that Musk’s words were sometimes "elusive" and holz Hausen had to make some deeper explanations.
"Musk is hot and cold. One day, he will grab an idea and push it in one direction, then we will sort it out, and then he will say, ah, this is not what I want. " Holz Hausen recalled.
In the midsummer of that year, holz Hausen took a chance and made a final effort. He drew a truck with a triangular outline, which is different from the truck that his team has been showing to Musk.
As a result, this idea resonated with Musk.
According to those who have worked with holz Hausen, he is decisive, not easily flustered, and willing to accept new ideas. These qualities have helped him to establish a close relationship with Musk, and he is comfortable in a company with a high turnover rate of executives.
Before and after lunch time, he often leads people to exercise in a parking lot behind Tesla’s Los Angeles design studio. This activity was initiated by a CrossFit coach a few years ago, and later evolved into what some people call "FranzFit" (named after holz Hausen).
"I don’t like losing. Maybe this is a good way to vent. "Holz Hausen said when talking about exercise.
I was inseparable from Musk.
When Musk was able to persuade holz Hausen to leave Mazda, he promised to fulfill Tesla’s mission, that is, to accelerate the transformation of the automobile industry to electrification and get rid of its dependence on oil and natural gas.
Holz Hausen now manages a team of about 300 employees, including designers and sculptors who are responsible for converting 2D images into clay models. Most of them work in the design studio in the Los Angeles area, which is an open office located in a modified hangar next to the SpaceX headquarters of Musk’s rocket company.
For many years, Musk went to holz Hausen’s office almost every Friday to review the latest ideas of the team. Today, the number of visits by Musk has decreased, because he now has to manage more companies and Tesla’s headquarters has moved to Texas.
Holz Hausen said that Musk was still "deeply involved" in Tesla’s design process.Sometimes, Musk sends the ideas he saw on X to holz Hausen. Holz Hausen prefers to discuss design ideas face to face, and he will try to find Musk to discuss with him face to face.
Sketch a car at the age of two.
Holz Hausen grew up in Hartford, Connecticut. His father, Frank von holz, an industrial designer, said that his son started painting at an early age and drew a sketch of his first car at the age of two.
In 1992, holz Hausen joined the design team of Volkswagen after graduating from art center college of design, a suburb of Los Angeles. As a junior designer of Volkswagen, he was selected to help design the concept car of Volkswagen, which eventually became an improved version of Volkswagen’s iconic model Beetle, with a more rounded shape.
Later, he joined General Motors, where he met his wife, Vicki, a car designer. The pair collaborated to design the curvy Pontiac Solstice car. Holz Hausen focuses on exterior design, while Vicky focuses on interior. This two-seater car won the annual design award of Automobile Magazine in 2006. Currently, they live in the Los Angeles area and have two sons.
After leaving GM, holz Hausen joined Mazda to lead the California studio. Laurens van den Acker, a former design director of Mazda, said that Mazda California Studio led by holz Hausen has won a reputation for being good at handling challenging tasks.
There, holz Hausen designed a series of concept cars, inspired by the movement of nature. These models are designed to show Mazda’s design trajectory.
"They are people who want to join new projects and like to face difficulties." Ake said.
In the eyes of outsiders, holz Hausen’s famous work may be the Cybertruck conference in 2019. At that time, to show Cybertruck’s tenacity, holz Hausen smashed a metal ball into the window of a prototype car. As a result, the window was smashed.
In Tesla’s office, he took a pen and paper to solve design problems, wrote down his ideas on pieces of paper, and then put them on the conference room or someone else’s desk for inspiration.
Like many Tesla employees, he often wears a black T-shirt, which is his work clothes. Holz Hausen is also famous for changing Musk’s mind.
For example, according to the autobiography of Musk published by Walter Isaacson, holz Hausen was one of the people who persuaded Musk to restart the plan of low-cost electric vehicles. The plan will expand Tesla’s influence to the mass market. At that time, Musk had been focusing on making a fully autonomous self-driving taxi without steering wheel and pedals.
Recently, holz Hausen stopped by a car while walking in petersen automotive museum.He said that this car inspired him when he thought about Tesla’s future car.
This is a 1925 Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe. It has been customized, with a huge diving fender and an iconic round door, which opens to reveal a red interior. Holz Hausen marveled at the sense of movement conveyed by this car. "It feels like being stretched by the wind".
He compared Tesla’s upcoming affordable car with Volkswagen’s Beetle or Ford’s Model T and called it "a product for the public".But simple and not simple, it will also "feel like a continuation of future ideas."
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