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At Munro & Associates, we specialize in exposing the real costs—and opportunities—buried within vehicle design. When Elon Musk claimed Tesla’s upcoming Cybercab (or Robotaxi/Model 2) would feature up to 60% fewer parts than a Model 3, many were skeptical. But based on our teardown expertise and the rigorous costing processes we’ve applied across decades, we can confirm: it’s not a lie. It’s a lean design revolution.
The Value of Fewer Parts
What does it mean to remove 60% of a car’s parts? It’s not just about fewer nuts and bolts. Every component—from a three-cent screw to a complex brake pedal assembly—comes with logistical overhead: packaging, shipping, storage, labor, floor space, quality control, and more. A seemingly insignificant part can multiply in cost once you consider its full lifecycle through the manufacturing line.
That’s why simplification isn’t just clever—it’s transformational. Tesla’s Cybercab isn’t simply smaller. It’s rethinking what truly needs to be there at all.
Where the Reductions Happen
The Cybercab appears to be a two-door, one-row vehicle—meaning no back seats, no rear doors, and none of the trim, actuators, or reinforcement structures those components require. At Munro, we’ve already demonstrated that removing just the brake and steering assemblies (thanks to drive-by-wire and autonomous configurations) nets over $700 in cost savings. That’s before we even factor in labor or material weight reductions.
More importantly, Tesla isn’t just trimming features—it’s rearchitecting the design. From advanced single-piece castings to likely carbon fiber upper bodies, this isn’t a subtraction exercise. It’s a shift toward full systems-level integration. Instead of stitching together dozens of components, Tesla engineers are consolidating entire modules.
From 300 Parts to Four
A particularly striking comparison came from examining Model 3’s dashboard versus Cybercab’s. The 2018 Model 3 required about 300 individual parts in that section—including brackets, beams, pads, welds, adhesives, and more. Cybercab? Just four main components in that same space.
This level of simplification can only be achieved with structural rethinking. A large cross-car beam doubles as an attachment point for multiple features. Carbon fiber panels eliminate the need for reinforcements, fasteners, and many secondary operations. Adhesives replace screws. Everything becomes cleaner, tighter, and more cost-effective.
Lean Design = High Quality
Contrary to the old belief that complexity ensures refinement, fewer parts actually mean fewer failure points. Every fastener is a potential rattle. Every seam, a source of fitment or quality variation. With fewer components, quality control becomes exponentially easier—and more reliable.
Plus, advanced materials like carbon fiber and gigacast aluminum offer rigidity that conventional stamped steel never could. Their performance is stable, repeatable, and easier to manufacture at scale once tooling is complete.
Design Culture Matters
As Sandy Munro pointed out, traditional OEMs often trap engineers in inertia. A dashboard designer tasked with the same component over multiple vehicle generations is unlikely to challenge why that part exists at all. Change is hard—especially in systems where risk is punished and failure is feared.
Tesla flips that model. By prioritizing cross-functional collaboration, flattening hierarchy, and empowering teams to own entire systems—not just parts—Tesla breaks through the organizational silos that plague most automakers.
This design freedom, paired with top-down support for bold changes, leads to dramatic improvements vehicle after vehicle. In just four model generations, Tesla has changed more than some legacy platforms do in decades.
Why Traditional OEMs Struggle to Keep Up
Most automotive engineers operate under strict limitations. Budgets are trimmed before work begins. Timelines are aggressive. Suppliers push for minimal changes. Legal and finance departments often dictate what’s feasible—suffocating innovation before it reaches production.
That’s why truly disruptive platforms like the Cybercab are rare. Legacy OEMs often need six to eight years to launch a new model. In that time, Tesla may iterate on two or more.
And the cost pressure? In a traditional OEM, engineers are evaluated on checklists, not breakthroughs. Risk-aversion rules. That’s how you get three decades of experience designing the same seat frame—or 11 cupholders for two seats because every design team added their own.
Tesla’s vertically integrated approach avoids this. Engineers aren’t just designing doors or dashboards—they’re building a car. That mindset shift changes everything.
Autonomy Drives Even More Simplicity
Cybercab’s autonomy-first focus removes entire subsystems. No steering wheel? That deletes steering columns, racks, pedals, and multiple actuators. Fewer control surfaces mean less wiring, fewer harnesses, and simpler UIs.
Critics argue such vehicles can’t handle every edge case. But as one of our engineers noted, just because the solution isn’t apparent today doesn’t mean it won’t exist tomorrow. The next generation of car buyers values utility over legacy notions of style or control. They want a seamless ride that connects to their phone—not a “driving experience.”
Comfort Features—Redefined
In our inspection of the Cybercab prototype, we noticed lightweight trim, no Alcantara, and very few aesthetic luxuries. Yet, it works. For a ride-hailing platform or fleet service, overdesigning interiors is wasteful. Riders just want it clean, connected, and functional.
Even cupholders—an American obsession—were absent. Instead of asking, “What features should we add?” Tesla is asking, “What can we remove?” That question leads to the most efficient answer every time.
What This Means for the Industry
Tesla’s potential 60% parts reduction is more than a bold claim—it’s a masterclass in systems thinking and lean engineering. It exposes how bloated most vehicles really are, both in cost and complexity. And it demonstrates that when design, manufacturing, and executive leadership all support radical change, game-changing vehicles emerge.
Cybercab might not appeal to every buyer. But it doesn’t need to. It’s targeting the next generation of urban mobility users—ones who care more about connectivity than horsepower, more about low cost than customization.
And it proves a future of $20,000 EVs isn’t fantasy—it’s just a matter of saying “yes” to smarter design.
Takeaways: How the Cybercab Achieves 60% Fewer Parts
- No rear seats or doors = massive parts savings
- Gigacast and carbon fiber bodywork eliminates hundreds of welded joints
- Brake and steering assemblies removed in favor of autonomy
- Simplified interior: no center console, low-cost trim, no cupholders
- Teamwide collaboration replaces siloed design
- Focus on purpose-driven features cuts cost without sacrificing quality
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