What Car Does Elon Musk Actually Drive? Mostly a Tesla, Despite His Sprawling Car Collection

AUSTIN, Texas — Elon Musk built the world’s most valuable electric vehicle company, but the question of what he actually drives day to day has lingered for years, fueled by his own scattered social media confirmations and a personal garage that spans everything from Cybertrucks to a submarine car once used in a James Bond film.

The short answer: yes, Musk’s primary vehicles are Teslas. Over the past several years, Musk has repeatedly confirmed through his own posts and interviews that his everyday driving is split mainly between two Tesla models — the Model S and the Model X — with more recent public appearances showing him behind the wheel of the Cybertruck as well.

The Model S: Musk’s longtime go-to

Musk’s connection to the Model S predates most of Tesla’s current product lineup. According to Yahoo Autos, Musk told Time magazine at Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting as early as 2015 that “I’m testing the latest version of autopilot every week. Typically, two or three builds per week that I’m testing on my car,” a reference to the vehicle he was driving at the time.

The relationship was confirmed more directly in 2018, when Musk appeared on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast and was asked which car he personally drove. According to Yahoo Autos, Musk answered simply, “Model S P100D.”

That preference carried into 2019, when Musk posted on then-Twitter that his day-to-day vehicle was a Tesla Model S Performance, according to InsideEVs, which cited earlier reporting on the disclosure. The outlet also noted that Musk said in the same post that he drives a Model 3 Performance in addition to the Model S.

The Model X steps in for family duty

When Musk is driving with his children, he has said he switches to the Tesla Model X, the brand’s SUV known for its distinctive “Falcon Wing” rear doors — a design detail Musk has said originated from his own frustration with cramped access to third-row seating in other SUVs. According to CarFromJapan, Musk disclosed that his day-to-day vehicle is a Tesla Model S, but that when he has his kids with him, he drives the Model X SUV for the extra room.

A more recent addition: the Cybertruck

Since Tesla ramped up production of the Cybertruck, Musk has increasingly been photographed and filmed in the angular, stainless-steel pickup, both at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Texas and elsewhere. In August 2023, Musk posted on X after testing a production-candidate Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas, writing simply, “Just drove the production candidate Cybertruck at Tesla Giga Texas!”

By 2024, Musk was publicly joking about splitting his daily driving time between two of his most iconic vehicles. Responding to a post about the choice between the Model S and the Cybertruck, Musk wrote on X, “That is an actual choice I face every day,” followed by a laughing emoji, according to CarTalk.

Beyond Teslas: a wide-ranging personal collection

While Musk’s daily drivers are exclusively Tesla vehicles, his broader personal car collection includes a number of notable non-Tesla classics. Among the most famous is a 1976 Lotus Esprit, nicknamed “Wet Nellie,” which appeared as a submarine car in the 1977 James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me.” According to CarFromJapan, Musk purchased the vehicle at auction in 2013 for nearly $1 million after having been fascinated with the car since childhood, when he saw Bond convert it into a submersible on screen.

His collection has also reportedly included a McLaren F1 sports car, purchased with proceeds from the sale of his first company, Zip2, in the late 1990s. According to Yahoo Autos, Musk crashed the McLaren while uninsured years later and watched it catch fire, though the vehicle was ultimately rebuilt by McLaren Special Operations. Musk has previously written on social media that the McLaren F1 remains, in his view, the best car ever made.

Other vehicles associated with Musk’s personal garage include a 1978 BMW 320i, described as his first car, a modified BMW M5, an Audi Q7, and a Porsche 911 Turbo, according to InsideEVs.

The Roadster that went to space

Perhaps Musk’s most famous Tesla is not one he currently drives at all. The original Tesla Roadster — the company’s first production car, based on the Lotus Elise chassis — was launched into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in 2018 and remains in space today. According to the Petersen Automotive Museum, cited by InsideEVs, Musk used the Roadster as his actual daily driver in the vehicle’s early years, commuting from his home in Bel Air to Tesla’s offices in Hawthorne, California.

What’s next for Musk’s daily driver

Musk has also indicated his personal fleet may shift again as Tesla’s next-generation Roadster, a high-performance sports car years in development, moves closer to production. According to Automotive News, Musk said the upcoming Roadster is expected to be Tesla’s only manually driven vehicle over the long term, with the rest of the company’s lineup transitioning toward fully autonomous models — a shift that, if it plays out as Musk has described, could eventually make the new Roadster the last car Musk himself gets to drive by hand.