My take would be that it’s designed to be produced by a company that expects to have too small a production run to be able to afford shaping metal any more than the absolute minimum necessary for the thing to mildly function as a vehicle.
In a sense, I’d applaud them for being practical in their design. However, since aerodynamics are a significant factor in efficiency and battery-powered cars are already short on distance - let alone when making a vehicle the size of a pickup - I’m going to have the say that they’ve failed a pretty vital aspect of their design-work. That leads me to expect that they’ll just glue some bits together cheaply and try to rush off before people figure out that the car is either already at capacity just trying to haul its batteries around or needs to be recharged so often that it’s impractical for any real world use.
If I needed a pickup, I wouldn’t buy this vehicle unless I could drive it around for a week and put it through a pretty serious set of tests. Minus that and I’ll let someone else be the test case.
The fact you can stick 16 ft 2x4s through the truck and close both tailgates is pretty frickin awesome. The passthrough goes from the front bumper to the back!
It kind of reminds me of the GM Basic Transportation Vehicle, an extremely basic truck designed in the 1970s to be easily assembled in developing countries from flat pieces of sheet metal.
Although the SUV version also kind of reminds me of a Land Rover Defender.
I have to wonder if it’s really that bad aerodynamically to any other pick-up, though. I’ll grant it doesn’t have the lines of a modern pick-up but if you compare it to an F-150 or a Silverado is it really that much worse? IIRC, There was an article in PM years ago comparing a NASCAR vs a GTP and even though the Chevy looked like a brick comparatively it was actually smoother through the air.
No, I think any industrial or car designer would be embarrassed to be associated with that design, or lack thereof. Even a freshman in a car design program could design something with more style than that. Basically it looks like a vehicle designed by an engineer (and I say that as an engineer).
I honestly think that’s it. I’m guessing the company decided to cut costs by not hiring an industrial designer or automotive stylist, and just let the engineers handle the styling.
Did they have to make it ugly? There are no contours or smoothness to the vehicle at all. It looks like the product of an Erector Set used in concert with a Lego Set.
One of the basic tenants of an art car at Burning Man is that you can’t tell what’s underneath. For example, a Burner here in Arizona bought himself a fire truck manufactured by the Walter Truck Company and turned it into Walter the Bus, a twice-size VW bus. Later, he acquired another and wanted to keep in pretty intact. There was a lot of back and forth with the Department of Mutant Vehicles before he could bring it as Heathen* mainly because it has a seven-foot diameter poofer on the back and generally hauls around Kalliope, a soundstage trailer.
Therefore before that… thing could be brought to the playa it would have to be drastically altered. This would be a good thing.
*It was originally working for the Heath, California FD.
I don’t care much about looks but the performance stats are fucking impressive. A pickup isn’t supposed to be a fashion statement nor are they intended for taking long drives unless you’re hauling a bigass trailer or camping way off road. If the seat is comfortable and it handles well, that would be a fine work truck. Aside from the no-doubt astronomical cost. Maybe they’re angling for a defense contract.
If what you want is the opposite of a fashion statement, this vehicle is for you. But there’s gotta be some middle ground somewhere; this thing is deliberately ugly.
I very intentionally drive ugly cars, keeps the hoboes from breaking the windows constantly. Mechanically great, I keep my rides in fine fettle under the hood but the outside? I’m fine with bangs and dings and scratches and no, I almost never send them through the car wash. My pickup is uglier than that one but tows nor loads anywhere near as much so…
