But where I live (deep blue territory) most people would not be caught dead driving Musk’s favorite car around

I would say the issue is more that there has been little to no progress in mainstream consumer car aesthetics in the past 25 years. It used to be that you could clearly tell a 50s car from a 60s car from a 70s car from an 80s car, etc. Everything from the past 25 years or so is pretty indistinguishable, so something comes along with a clear but possibly misguided aesthetic vision, its naturally going to appeal to some people.

The steel chassis provides rigidity instead of a traditional frame. They ended up having to be flat, not curved, to meet the design goal.

I guess we all just want something that “looks like a pickup”, is heavy, and guzzles $7 a gallon diesel fuel