Tesla’s Macintosh 189
develop a brand,” von Holzhausen said. “I learned discipline
from the Germans while in America - it is about the free
spirit, the message is what a brand can do. Sometimes,
when I’m driving on the freeway, I see people in cars
that I’ve designed or helped design. I look closely, because
I want to see what kinds of people are driving those
cars.”239,241
A friend of a friend called von Holzhausen and told
him he should consider working for Tesla. Von Holzhausen
had earlier read about Tesla and he thought their solution
was too complicated. But it turned out von Holzhausen
planned to leave his current job because he had become
sick of Mazda’s priorities. “We had just come off a car that
was all about being green in the racing environment,” he
said. “We had done a lot of work with sustainable materials.
We were the only ones to have non-vinyl interiors in the
industry, but the company was not really embracing it.”^240
Because von Holzhausen wasn’t happy at Mazda, he
decided to meet Elon. “I came up to Tesla and did a tour of
the facilities and we talked about opportunities,” he said.
“Here was a company that was putting all its marbles
behind what it believed in. Until that time I had worked
for companies that talked a good line, but their core values
were in a different direction.” Elon gave von Holzhausen
an offer he couldn’t refuse. If he joined Tesla, Elon would
give him the opportunity to design a new car from a clean
sheet. It’s a dream job for all designers, so von Holzhausen
accepted the offer and became Tesla’s chief designer.^240
Elon told von Holzhausen he wanted a four-door sedan