Opinion | That Strange Piece of Metal Origami Embodies All Elon Musk’s Flaws

Some of the problems Tesla is facing — including first-quarter profits that are down 9 percent from last year, stressful months for shareholders and layoffs of about a tenth of its work force — are the result of factors affecting the electric vehicle industry as a whole. But many of Tesla’s troubles are unique to Tesla and the fact that its chief executive and co-founder, Elon Musk, is unique to the auto industry. He’s a Silicon Valley creature in a Detroit ecosystem who values innovation for its own sake, even at times when he could be more focused on safety and quality. His ethos and approach to running Tesla are embodied by his pet project, the Cybertruck.

Though it fits the technical definition of a truck (it has a bed), the vehicle looks more like an origami version of an El Camino. Mr. Musk suggested its stainless steel exterior might be bulletproof; some owners say it rusts.

It’s not unusual for new car and truck models to have some flaws, but the Cybertruck, which has sold only about 4,000 units, was recalled recently because the accelerator had a sticking problem, which is sort of like a parachute having a gaping-hole-in-the-canopy problem. Some owners have reportedly gotten an alert that the “vehicle may suddenly lose electrical power, steering and propulsion.” And you may want to watch your fingers with the frunk (front trunk) and doors; they don’t have industry standard sensors that can keep doors from snipping off someone’s digits. (The Cybertruck’s lead engineer said the steel doesn’t rust, and the company is working on the frunk issue.)

Tesla delayed the Cybertruck’s release a few times in order, the company said, to fix design and manufacturing flaws, but Mr. Musk’s primary focus often appears to be the aesthetics of science fiction and the desire to be seen as edgy (perhaps literally so in the case of the Cybertruck, which is surprisingly devoid of curves for a machine that needs to be aerodynamic). This is a man who named his child X Æ A-12, who rebranded Twitter as X and who endlessly engages in the performative subversion of posting antagonistic memes. Conventional automakers produce daring-looking concept cars, too, but they’re not made for mass production, and unlike the retro-futuristic Cybertruck, they are crafted with an eye toward what transport will look like in the future, not what the future looked like in the past.

Musk’s approach to innovation is in keeping with much of Silicon Valley’s. The tech industry puts a cultural premium on shipping products to market quickly and worrying about the consequences of any unfinished work, harmful features or deficiencies after consumers complain or the company gets sued. “Move fast and break things” is intended as a battle cry against sclerotic institutions and norms, but sometimes things get broken that should have been protected, like consumer privacy and safety. Democracy, even.

The consequences may be negligible if the product is an entertainment app, but with cars and rockets, the stakes are terrifyingly high. Tesla gives the impression that it accepts certain risks as the price of innovation.