Cybertruck Could Be Tesla’s Big Miss

Elon Musk’s EV pickup fantasy is not the truck the market’s looking for

Lance Ulanoff
The Mobilist

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The Tesla Cybertruck (Credit; Tesla)

I’m a Tesla fan. I’ve never owned one of Elon Musk’s EV sedans, but I have test-driven an early Model 3, been driven hundreds of miles in a Model S, crawled around a Tesla Semi, and even had a few 0-to-60 in 3.4- second experiences in a P85 d Model S sedan. These are spectacular vehicles that, in my humble opinion, are changing the face of the auto industry.

Like Steve Jobs before him, Elon Musk has understood what the car consumer wanted in an EV before they wanted it. But that unerring sense is failing him right now as he continues to tout the misbegotten Cybertruck.

Looking like a DeLorean on an overdose of steroids, the bizarre all-steel Cybertruck has been vexed almost from the very first time we saw it in 2019. Who can forget Musk encouraging one of his coworkers to throw a steel ball at one of the windows, only to see it shatter spectacularly — twice. Sure, the ball didn’t go through, but Musk had us thinking that steel projectile would harmlessly bounce off the glass plane.

The Cybertruck has always looked like it’d be more at home on the surface of Mars than riding the badlands of North Dakota. Despite the impressive range (500 miles on a charge) and face-pulling torque (0-to-60…

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Lance Ulanoff
The Mobilist

Tech expert, journalist, social media commentator, amateur cartoonist and robotics fan.