Did one of his kids design it?
He did say it was more of a personal project, and that he wasn't overly concerned with how well it would sell. It's obviously a concept car, but on the same token, if you're going to shake up the truck market, it might be best to just go nuts. I thought the forward control renders by fans were far enough, but apparently he did not.
When that shape is refined for production it might turn out pretty cool, but for now it's not where I personally think it should be. That said, the more I look at it, the less visually offensive it becomes. I do see where he was going with it, and in concert with the reveal, the design language does make sense. I get the feeling he and I like the same stuff, and it was kind of aimed in my direction; but that this is his personal dream car.
I mean, if it's forty grand or less to start, I'd much rather have that than a Model X; or any number of cars on the road today. At the very least, it's unique. I think the bed is probably reasonably practical for something that crazy, and it's not like Tesla doesn't know how to build a functional interior. The Rivian may be an objectively better truck, but driving this love letter to '80s science fiction would certainly be more fun.
It's also easy to keep forgetting that there's cargo space under the hood. I don't think he's pretending that this is going to compete with a GMC or a Ridgeline so far as throwing chainsaws and string trimmers around. I think he wanted to build
that vehicle, and found a way for it to make slightly more sense than it did when he was 13 years old and drew it for the first time.
Cheers,
Kennith