I think it is safe to say that the Cybertruck has gone viral. All over the internet, we see everything from fails to pictures of potential accessories and everything in between.
So why on earth would I compare a Toyota Prius and the Tesla Cybertruck? It proves a point. These two vehicles, sliced from the same cloth, have forever changed the automotive industry. Here is why.
Cybertruck and Prius, The Crazy Ones
I applaud the strange, weird, and crazy things people do. For that, Elon, hats off to you. I also celebrate the Toyota Prius. Doing something that other car companies thought was ludicrous.
These two vehicles are the crazy ones. These cars dared to challenge the status quo. They told everyone else to pound sand, take a hike, and to let them be themselves — another reason why I love the Prius and the Cybertruck.
Haters will always be out there for both of these cars. I have heard it so many times. The Prius is ugly, and the Prius is slow. Prius is a treehuggers car. I hear similar things about the Cybertruck as well, though maybe not the slow and tree hugger part.
The thing is, you have to give these two cars credit for doing what no one else dares to do. Be ugly, be strange, odd, or different in a way that makes you think. Better yet, if we did not have Prius, Cybertruck may not have existed in the first place.
Prius And Cybertruck, A New Way To Drive
I touched on this lightly already, but here is a different perspective. Toyota and Telsa gave us a whole new way to enjoy an automobile.
Toyota Prius gave us a fuel-efficient and practical sedan that revolutionized many parts of the transportation industry. Taxi drivers, commuters, college students, and many more have been beneficiaries of this incredible technology.
Telsa Motors gave us for the first time, a real car that was fast, fun and now family-friendly. Tesla also brought us for the first real-time, a new fresh look at the electric car platform. Something GM threw in the trash after EV-1 "failed."
The point is, we owe our new crazy world two these two pioneers who decided that different is better, then went out to prove to us why.
Conclusion
I think the Cybertruck looks like something out of Demolition Man from 1993. It has sharp lines, it is tacky, and yet, I love it. I love it because it flips the bird to all others out there. It says so what? Who cares.
Thank you, Elon, for allowing this monstrosity of a vehicle enter into our lives. We needed the Toyota Prius when it came out, and we need the Cybertruck as well. It is how we learn to grow and develop as an industry.
Thank you for reading, be sure to check out my other story, San Fransisco Toyota Joins The Fight To Protect Toyota Prius Owners From Catalytic Converter Theft.
Watch how Tesla Cybertruck sizes up with Model and a conventional pickup truck like the 2020 Ford F-150 and click to subscribe to Torque News for daily automotive news analysis.
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Peter Neilson is an automotive consultant specializing in electric cars and hybrid battery technologies. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Automotive Service Technology from Weber State University. Peter is also an Instructor of Automotive Technology at Columbia Basin College. Peter can be reached on Linkedin and you can tweet him at The_hybrid_guy on Twitter. Find his page on Facebook at Certified Auto Consulting