Wouldn’t be surprised that they felt some urgency behind their discovery process and could not get their hands on a car quick enough due to the order backlog.
The issue isn’t about “caring” about the CEO of a particular car company in some abstract or moralistic sense, or avoiding the purchase of a Tesla as some kind of moral statement. The crux of the issue is that Musk appears to be clinically insane, or is on sufficient drugs that his behaviour is indistinguishable from that. With EVs in general and Teslas in particular, customer support is crucial due to things like ongoing important software updates and highly specialized maintenance. In the case of Tesla, the problem is exacerbated by Musk’s propensity for extreme micromanagement, meddling on a whim at any and all levels of the business.
So it fundamentally comes down to an issue of trust. An issue of trust in relation to a big-ticket high-tech item that pretty much demands an ongoing relationship with the manufacturer. Personally I am not inclined to put that trust in an impulsive psychopath who has made a shambles of Twitter. YMMV.
On an unrelated note, whatever rationalizations might be offered on the merits of the Cybertruck, to me it’s subjectively the ugliest vehicle I have ever seen (with the possible exception of the Horsey Horseless 
). I’d be embarrassed to be seen in one, and I don’t normally have the slightest care about what “image” my vehicle projects.
Nah, I’m not rising to the bait again. We’ve got a zillion other threads for that.
As more information comes out, it’s becoming very obvious that the Cybertruck is a fantastic vehicle. It’s roomy, quiet, fast, maneuverable, durable, has great payload handling, can supply huge electrical loads (either to charge another vehicle or power equipment), will do great in off-roading situations, and so on. Pretty much the only concern is range, and that’s common to all EV trucks. It beats the F-150 Raptor R (a >$110k truck) in a drag race… when the Cybertruck is on dirt and the Raptor on asphalt.
That you would call these “rationalizations” just demonstrates your own ignorance about the vehicle. Seriously, watch the Hagerty video, or even better, listen to the Carmudgeon podcast. It will fill you in on the details you’re clearly missing.
Recruiting Marques Brownlee, Hagerty/Jason Cammisa, and Top Gear was a genius move. MKBHD gave the techie angle; the latter two had more of a car-first perspective. They also had direct access to the engineers at Tesla, who clearly did a fantastic job and gave lots of interesting detail about the tech behind it.
As for the looks, I find it funny that some people get so worked up about it. I mean, for example, I think the Rivian is pretty damn ugly and like a rejected Disney crossover between Big Hero 6 and Cars, but I don’t go on and on about it, especially in threads about them. It’s just not a big deal, and if other people like the looks then more power to them. People should relax more about other people’s opinions. Personally, I’d love if there were more variety in vehicle styling out there.
And while it’s not going to win over anyone who hates the look, for anyone that thinks it looks interesting but awkward from some angles… see if there’s a showroom near you and if they have a Cybertruck on display. The awkwardness is non-existent in person, IMO. I was a bit on the fence given some photos, but in person I think it looks great.
It still remains to be seen if Tesla can build these in volume, or how much of the pent-up demand will translate to actual sales, but I predict we’ll be seeing plenty of them on the road in short order. So, you should probably get used to the looks.
And if nothing else, it’s capturing attention and drawing people into showrooms. The Model Y is already among the best selling cars in the world (#2 in the US for all vehicles, behind only the F-150), despite being virtually absent from traditional advertising. Increased attention coming from a new “halo” vehicle can only help here.
No baiting intended, but let me explain my point, and then let you get back to your technical discussion. There’s obviously reason to be impressed by some of the innovations in the Cybertruck, and from a technical perspective I can understand the interest in discussing them. The other issues I mention are irrelevant to the truck’s technical features.
I’m explaining why I think Musk’s impulsive and erratic behaviours are a legitimate reason why many people may think twice about a Tesla, even if they normally wouldn’t know or care who the CEO of some other car company even was. I know I’ve gone from admiring Teslas and vaguely thinking that at some point I might buy one, to now saying “no way”, and I can’t be the only one.
I admit to complete ignorance about the vehicle, but that’s because I have no interest in it and wouldn’t be caught dead in it. Those who think the Cybertruck’s features are important to them and who trust that Musk won’t impulsively do something crazy with the software or with service policies can go right ahead and buy one without any argument from me.
I don’t particularly like the looks of the Rivian, either, but it’s not a big deal because it’s not trying to be shockingly different. The general rule of automotive styling is that if you are, in fact, trying to be distinctively different, especially in a very radical way, you’d better be really, really good at what you’re doing. Mercedes Benz excels at it. American automakers often don’t. Whoever designed this abomination should go back to school, preferably in a different field of study.
Does anyone seriously think that this angular pile of sheet metal will set aesthetic design trends in the industry? On the contrary, it looks like the aesthetics were vaguely inspired by the similarly straight sheet metal lines of the 1957 King Midget Model III, but there was a reason they looked like that. They were designed to be super cheap, and some models were available in kit form, so they looked like they were assembled in someone’s garage because some of them literally were. For something that costs upwards of $100K, I expect much better.
In South Africa, the Ranger is a large pickup. Not that it’s not a popular size, but that’s where ours max out. Most pickups are more the “compact” style, like the Nissan NP200
.
Maybe so–and I’m trying to keep this as focused as possible–but you are undoubtedly a minority. Again, the Model Y is among the best-selling cars in the world. Easily #1 in terms of revenue. Possibly #1 in unit sales in recent quarters, though it depends on how you divide up Toyota Corolla sales. #1 in US car sales, and #2 in vehicle sales (behind the F-150).
And there is zero evidence of any impulsivity coming through in the final product. Yes, FSD just keeps getting pushed farther and farther out, but the actual product has been absolutely solid. More solid, in general, than the competition, in large part due to the total reliability of the Supercharger network. Which the competition has now recognized and wants a part of.
See what I mean? You just go on and on about it. A normal response would be “not my cup of tea, but whatever floats your boat.”
As it happens, it was designed by Franz von Holzhausen, who has done most of Tesla’s other cars, as well as work at Mazda and elsewhere. Contrary to popular belief, he presented the design to Musk, not vice-versa.
The designers and engineers at Tesla get enormous freedom to do their work, and it comes through in the product. Very few companies manage this.
I can’t say how the design process worked, but as we all know, Musk likes to have his hand in even the tiniest details, like how door handles or dash instrumentation looks, so he surely had a deep involvement in something as major as this design.
What we do know factually, thanks to Walter Isaacson, is that there were dozens of design iterations. Isaacson showed a picture of Musk and von Holzhausen in a large room surrounded by “mood boards” in which many different design ideas were featured, most of them very different (and more traditional) than what finally emerged. Back in 2017, before the Cybertruck even had a name, Musk noted in a tweet that he’d been thinking about the design and engineering elements for nearly 5 years.
I could be totally wrong, but it’s hard for me to believe that von Holzhausen could produce a design like this – completely unlike anything else he’s ever done – without a good deal of prompting from Musk, kind of like prompting an image-creation AI. Here’s what the concept looked like in 2017: I don’t like that one, either, but it’s more a matter of not liking it instead of “WTF?”. At least it seems to have better visibility and looks like it came from an auto/truck manufacturer and not someone’s garage:
Well yeah, that’s just the Tesla Semi in pickup form. It’s the picture they showed back when the Semi was unveiled. It was more or less a joke, given that they’ve put a “normal” sized pickup in the bed. It wouldn’t be the first semi that was sold as a pickup, but they needed something smaller if they wanted to sell more than a few hundred of them.
It’s also just not that interesting looking. The Semi is shaped to be as aerodynamic as possible given that it sits in front of a giant box. And it’s better-looking than a typical semi, but that’s not saying much (unless you count those crazy Dekotora trucks!). It has the same blobby look that so many cars have now (including Teslas).
The main thing about the Cybertruck is that the materials dictated the design. They wanted full-hard stainless steel for durability. But you can’t stamp that. The DeLorean was pretty angular as it was, but its panels weren’t nearly the same thickness or hardness. The Cybertruck panels can only be creased and bent into simple curves (imagine the panels curving around a cylinder as opposed to a sphere). And gentle curves at that.
So it’s incredibly durable, but the side effect is a polygonal vehicle. In a way, it’s the same deal as with the F-117. That aircraft had to be polygonal because the computers of the day weren’t fast enough to generate something that could fly and be stealthy without reducing the problem to a small number of facets. Likewise, the Cybertruck is polygonal because stamping machines of today can’t do otherwise with the level of toughness they wanted. Maybe this will change in the future, but for now, the choice is between a vehicle that can take a 20-pound deadblow hammer without flinching, or something with fancy curves. They chose the former.
The reviews have all said that it has great visibility except to the rear–which isn’t so different from typical pickups, which could back over a class of kindergartners without noticing, given how tall the rear gates are. The Cybertruck has a backup camera to compensate.
The low nose gives great visibility to the front. As the Hagerty video showed:
That F-150 nose is like a foot higher than the Cybertruck, and is way longer. As a pedestrian, it doesn’t matter much which one hits you, but it looks far more likely that the F-150 driver isn’t going to see a 3-foot child standing in front of it.
I am curious if they’ll be forced to improve pedestrian safety for the EU market (if they bother to sell there, which they might not). One possibility is adding external airbags. A number of automakers are already looking into it. Airbags that popped out of the creases in the front could make it dramatically safer.
I remember reading that Tesla would not sell them a car to disassemble, so they went that path. I guess that is also one of the reasons Tesla will not allow re-sales of the Cybertruck for some time. And I am sure they will look closely at the locations their trucks end up and will surely sabotage their own electronics from afar if they suspect another firm is messing around with their trucks.
I take it that the Fiat Multipla was never sold in the USA?
Not sure, but I don’t think it ever was. But to their credit, TIME Magazine did list it on their 50 worst cars of all time. The pertinent comment being “… looked like it had several sets of eyes, like an irradiated tadpole”.
The Cybertruck is still far uglier.
I loved the Multipla, because it wasn’t trying to be cool or pretty. It was a car that said, “Yeah, I’m ugly. This is who I am. Take it or leave it.” I respected that.
Plus, I hear they were pretty good cars.
I had never seen that before. Thank you.
Here’s a snip from that Wiki article:
The horse head was hollow, also serving as the fuel tank. It is on Time Magazine’s worst car list.
Given the nature of road collisions, I think that might give a whole new meaning to the phrase “his head asploded”. 
That wiki doesn’t really do the thing justice since there are no pictures of it with people or other pickups for scale.
When they were current one happened to live near me and I often saw it on the road. They were huge. Not Peterbilt “8 rear tires and sleeper cab over-the-road heavy hauler” huge, but compared to an e.g. F-150 it was like a big man standing next to a tween boy. This is the same platform that’s often made into high-capacity flatbed tow trucks, utility company service vehicles, etc. But lifted a bit for effect.
Surprisingly, there aren’t a lot of great size comparison photos out there, but for everyone’s edification / enjoyment here’s this: Navistar International XT with other vehicles - Google Image Search
The XT was a contemporary of the original Hummers and were a giant " 'At’s not a knife. This is a knife!" thrust right into GM’s face for their silly little Hummer products. Wildly impractical; just a giant FU to everyone else on the road. Such fun!
I was frankly amazed they sold as poorly as they did in that gilded era just before the Big Crash of 2008. It’s not surprising the model died along with the stock market; it’s just surprising to me that it hadn’t boomed in the earlier years.
Wow. That is quite something. The closest analog I’m aware of in modern US car history is the Nissan Juke - Google Image Search.
Actually, it likely will make a difference. There’s been a great rise in pedestrian deaths in car accidents in the US in recent years. One of the causes commonly attributed is the proliferation of high-front-end vehicles (SUVs and pickups). With a high front end, the pedestrian is more likely to be pushed down and then run over by the vehicle. With a lower front end, the pedestrian is more likely to roll over the top of the vehicle. The ped is going to be injured either way, but is more likely to survive the latter.
Conventional automotive body panels are already plenty durable. Cars don’t end up in junkyards at the end of their life because the body panels wore out. They end up in junkyards because repair costs for whatever issue currently plaguing them outweigh their resale value. If our goal is “vehicles that last a long time,” very few of the decisions made for the Cybertruck make sense – Teslas already have higher repair bills than other brands due to limited parts availability and fewer shops willing to service them.
Yes, once the engineers were told they had to make stainless steel body panels work, I’m sure they did some great engineering to make it happen. But it was a silly design requirement in the first place, dictated from the top. Ironically, the best “engineering” feature that we’re all talking about on this car, the 48V system, isn’t even a challenge from an engineering perspective. The challenge is entirely logistical, and, ironically, Musk can take the most credit for it for insisting on owning the entire supply chain. To a lesser extent, the same is true for the gigacastings; lots of automakers would love to implement something similar, but they outsourced steel stampings long ago. Until one of their suppliers offers to produce their gigacastings for them, they’re stuck, and when they do become available, every other automaker will have them. Yes, gigacastings took some incredible engineering to make work, but I think we can give Musk a lot of credit for being stubborn to get those engineers the resources they needed to make it happen.
All that said, the hard truth is that the Cybertruck is stupid because producing it is awful for the planet. It’s a monument to idiotic consumerism. It’s a ludicrously expensive possession, and its owners will drone endlessly to me about all of its great features at barbeques while I pretend to give a shit. In the same way that I don’t want to hear about how nice your fancy new F150 King Lariat Ranch Eddie Bauer Black Edition is, so too do I not want to hear about your Cybertruck.
In many respects the same was true for the Model S, especially that it had such a large battery and so much power. But you could make a claim for that car that in order to take the risks and jumpstart the EV car game, it had to attract down payments from people with money. And it did just that.
The Cybertruck, though, was not funded by down payments from rich people in order to start an EV revolution. Yes, some of these “innovations” are better tested on a niche vehicle, but the money for the Cybertruck didn’t come from Cybertruck hype. It’s an unnecessary diversion.
Yes, I could just not open these threads, but I’m a car guy, and as a car guy I cannot escape this thing. I’m a “22RE’s last forever” sort of car guy. I’m a “Miata is all the vehicle you need” sort of car guy. I don’t want to hear about your AMG luxobarge, I don’t want to hear about your X5M, these are all stupid vehicles that are destroying the planet with their absolute excess.
The Cybertruck might as well be a Rolex for all the interest I have in it.
I would love for the Cybertruck and Elon Musk to stop taking up all the air in the room so that we can talk about how the Prius Prime is a much better use of our planet’s limited resources for our current transportation needs, as long as we’re also talking about how producing a single Prius Prime is also terrible for the environment and we should be looking for ways to stop needing cars and trucks for personal transportation.
And I am sure that Tesla and other manufacturers know that other firms are messing around with their vehicles. Manufacturers have been buying cars from the competition for decades.
That’s part of it. The other reason tall vehicles are a greater hazard is the initial impact on the pedestrian is higher up and more likely to be on the torso rather than the legs.
Eh, the Cybertruck might be ugly, but at least it’s not the Aztec.
Funny but I just went looking and the Aztek isn’t as awful looking now as I had remembered from back then when, as you say, it was a byword for the “What were they THINKING?” school of automotive design. Now it does look dated, but that’s to be expected for a vehicle first sold 20+ years ago (Shit, when did I get so old?)
In an odd way, many of the mini-utes current today resemble plump versions of the angular Aztek. Such as the funky Juke I cited upthread, or the much nicer Kia Sportage. And they don’t look half-bad doing it.
I cannot figure out of the Cybertruck’s design is an advantage or a liability. Let’s face it: So far, the ‘traditional looking’ electric trucks have been a failure in the marketplace.
I was an early fan of the Lightning, but they are now collecting on dealer lots and not selling. Around here we now have a special 2.99% APR deal on Lightnings to try to move them. Ford has repurposed one Lightning assembly line to gas trucks because of lack of demand.
Stallantis has pushed their RAM 1500 EV out to 2025 because of lack of demand. Rivian stock has collapsed from $159 to $19.
If Tesla had brought out a traditional truck styled EV, it would be just another competitor in a weak market. Instead, The Cybertruck is positioned as its own thing, a radical departure from the others.
The design is certainly polarizing, but some people really love it. It looks futuristic. For some people, it’s a truck that doesn’t signal that you’re a blie-collar yokel, and they like that. Ell-eeledmtechies might buy it when they’d never consider a traditiinal truck. People who grew up with transformers and science fiction movies might like it. And, as sometimes happens with polarizing designs, it might just be a trend setter.
Remember the Countach? Auto designers often panned it, and it was an incredibly polarizing design. But it became an iconic car because it looked like something out of the future and kids loved it. Posters of Countaches were in many kid’s bedrooms. It wasn’t a very good car, but it became one of the most well known sports cars in history, solely because of its polarizing design. Maybe the Cybertruck will pull that off in the truck space, or maybe not, I don’t think such things are predictable.
But for working people, they may hate the design but they’re going to look hard at what the Cybertruck brings to the table. Manoeverability unheard of in a full sized truck. Durability which means you don’t have to sweat scratches and dings to your $80,000 truck. A bed that is a ‘vault’ than can lock up your precious tools. Plenty of power for the job site. Air suspension that allows you to easily load/unload the bed and get in and out, while also allowing you to raise the truck for off-road ground clearance. It has the longest bed of any of the EV trucks, and can carry 4X8 sheets of material.
The biggest liability of Cybertruck may simply be that it’s electric. The first round of electric trucks has not caught on because electrically powering such vehicles is still difficult and costs a lot of utility. Even if the Cybertruck is better, it’s going to get caught in the negative public perception of electric trucks, at least at first.