A few days ago, we got our first picture of the Cybertruck's exoskeleton chassis as it was being worked on in Giga Texas. And today, Sandy Munro has reacted to those pictures and has called the Cybertruck's body "more revolutionary than I thought."
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The Cybertruck is Tesla’s most daring vehicle design to date. The futuristic truck, unlike most vehicles, has an exoskeleton body and will be made out of 90% recycled stainless steel.
Despite the already groundbreaking design of the Cybertruck shown off at the unveiling event back in 2019, the vehicle in the meantime has still seen several notable design changes.
The redesigned Cybertruck has several changes including rear-wheel steering, handless doors, an opening from the bed to the rear seats, and many smaller changes.
Musk has also confirmed there will be a new quad-motor Cybertruck variant. Even though Elon hasn’t shared details of the new truck, insider leaks have suggested it will have 0 to 60 mph time of under 2 seconds.
Related News: Tesla Begins Refreshed Model S & X Deliveries In Europe
Recently we also got a sneak peek at the new interior of the redesigned Cybertruck. This new interior has some notable changes such as the white rectangular marble-looking dashboard of the Cybertruck prototype is now replaced with a more traditional triangular shape and black material resembling the dashboard of the refreshed Model S & X.
And like the new Model S & X, the redesigned Cybertruck interior now also comes with a second screen behind the steering wheel. And other changes we were able to notice include an attachment for side view screens, a less angular seat design, and a new center console.
And if all these changes weren’t enough, recently Elon Musk has teased us with a picture of a Cybertruck design with 6 wheels and a much wider body.
Every design improvement has made the Cybertruck an even more compelling vehicle than it already is, however, the futuristic truck has also seen several delays.
Tesla unveiled the Cybertruck back in November 2019. Since then the vehicle has amassed over 1 million reservations with some estimates pushing the reservation number as high as 3 million.
Demand for Tesla’s futuristic truck is through the rough. However, Tesla has delayed Cybertruck production until 2023. Supplier leaks have even pushed out the start of production to the end of 2023 with the first deliveries not coming until early 2024.
Elon Musk has also recently revealed the Cybertruck is sold out until 2027. This has been disappointing for those of us who can’t wait to see the futuristic truck out on the roads.
However, in the last few months, there has also been some good news regarding Cybertruck’s production. Musk has confirmed a new 9000-ton Giga Press being built by a Tesla supplier will be used to build the Cybertruck’s body.
And Tesla’s Giga Press supplier, IDRA not only has finished building and testing the first 9000-ton Giga Press meant to build the Cybertruck, but IDRA has also started working on a second 9000-ton Giga Press which will most likely be used for the same purpose.
Related News: Tesla Gets Closer To Cybertruck Production As The Cybertruck’s 9000-t Giga Press Arrives At Giga Texas
And a few days back, as we waited to see whether this meant Tesla might start Cybertruck production earlier than expected, we got our first picture of the Cybertruck’s exoskeleton chassis being worked on in a factory.
The photo was shared on YouTube by Kim Java, a Tesla supporter. According to Kim, the picture of Cybertruck’s body was taken in Giga Texas and shared with her by a Tesla insider.
Seeing the Cybertruck’s body being worked on at Giga Texas was certainly exciting as it suggests Tesla is close to starting production of the futuristic truck. However, for those of us not trained in vehicle structural engineering, there wasn’t a lot of new information we could extract from the leaked images.
That is at least until now, Sandy Munro, a veteran automotive expert famous for his work tearing down vehicles and doing deep analysis, has seen the leaked pictures of the Cybertruck and has given his two cents about the vehicle’s body.
Munro in his analysis of the leaked picture of the Cybertruck, especially in response to the construction of the back of the vehicle said “that’s more revolutionary than I thought. I didn’t think they would do that whole back casting, that is gigantic. Is that all one piece? I have no idea how that is cast.”
Munro then made a reference to the 9000-t Giga Press Tesla will be using to build the entire rear of the Cybertruck as a single piece.
To hear someone as knowledgeable about vehicle design and Tesla as Munro calling the way the Cybertruck is built “more revolutionary than I thought” is certainly exciting. However, in the end, Munro tempered our expectations saying “I wonder if that’s is a single casting or 3 castings it seemed to me that they will have a hard time casting everything.”
As of now, we only have a single grainy picture of the Cybertruck’s body and from the picture, even Munro was unable to conclusively make out the details of the vehicle. However, we will be sure to keep you posted once we get more information about the Cybertruck’s body.
Until then, make sure to visit our site torquenews.com/Tesla regularly for the latest updates.
So what do you think? Excited to see a Cybertruck design with a smaller footprint and two doors? Also, how long do you think we will have to wait to see the smaller Cybertruck out on the roads? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Image: Screenshot from Sandy Munro’s Twitter video
For more information check out: 8 Tesla (TSLA) Catalysts for December 2022
Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and The evolution of the EV space on a daily basis for several years. He covers everything about Tesla from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.
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