Tesla Cybertruck Will Be the Death of Legacy Auto Pickup Trucks
Tesla Is the Death of the Traditional Pickup Truck
According to Dave Lee, Tesla has killed the traditional pickup truck and it is practically inevitable that the traditional pickup truck is going to die a long death - because the design of the Cybertruck is so much better than all other pickup truck designs. Let's dive further into his assessment.
The Cybertruck is Tesla's best design ever for a vehicle and it's going to be incredibly difficult for any company to copy the Cybertruck design. Tesla's chief designer talked about the Cybertruck in a recent interview: "It goes back to a first principles approach. What do you need from a pickup truck? What would you put on it? If you came from Mars, what would you look for?"
To achieve an armor plating on the outside of a truck that is impervious to bullets and dents, that you can drive into trees, that you can't scratch - all these things you would want in a tough pickup truck that makes it difficult to dent or break - what would you use?
You use stainless steel, because you don't have to paint it. Stainless steel will not get scratched. Not having to paint saves money and time. No scratches saves on repairs and keeps a new look. The stainless steel won't rust. Stainless steel is difficult to form - really hard, so how do you form it?
You can't do it in a traditional way. That will become part of the character of design of the Cybertruck in that it will use stainless steel made in a way that only Tesla is capable of using. The planar sheets of the stainless steel can bend in one direction. That bending in one direction will be a guiding principle of the Cybertruck.
Elon Musk on the Tesla Cybertruck
Elon Musk stated the that Tesla Cybertruck will probably be Tesla's best product ever. That's saying something given the popularity of the Model Y.
He goes on further to say that you can make something infinitely desirable, but if it's not affordable, that will constrain people's ability to buy it because they don't have the money. Elon worries more about making the Cybertruck affordable despite having awesome technology. He also says, aspirationally, in terms of just a rough order of magnitude, we'd like Cybertruck to be at least on the order of 400 thousand vehicles a year. But it will take us a moment to get to that level.
Elon and Tesla feel that they have "cracked the nut" of what a pickup truck should be. Why is there paint on the exterior of a pickup truck? The basic design of a pickup truck is flawed. Shouldn't the exterior be made something akin to armor plating? You could use stainless steel as the skin and everything else inside of that. That makes a pickup truck tough.
The Cybertruck is going to be the toughest truck ever made and it won't even be close. All other pickup trucks are going to look fragile and weak. It's the end of the era of the pickup truck and the tide is going to turn once people see how strong and tough the Tesla Cybertruck is. Other auto makers will have a difficult time matching the Tesla Cybertruck.
Can Other Automakers Compete?
Other auto makers don't realize the Tesla Cybertruck will be a huge hit. Other auto makers are focusing on electrifying their existing pickup trucks. This also admits the paying debt of their ICE vehicles. But it also means that legacy auto makers aren't making any changes to the design of their pickup trucks.
You won't be able to dent, scratch, or shoot a bullet through the Tesla Cybertruck. Ford trucks are known as being built "Ford Tough". But why can't other auto makers make their own version of the Cybertruck? It's because the Cybertruck will be incredibly difficult to make. It won't be easy or cheap.
Tesla will innovate with hundreds of processes and techniques to make a mass produced car with stainless steel. This milestone and knowledge will help them make other types of vehicles that have the same armor plating and durability. Other auto makers will likely stick with what they know instead of innovating like the Cybertruck will.
The Cybertruck could be the nail in the coffin for other auto makers who are relying on traditional pickup trucks to make their profits. Tesla's Cybertruck is going to make all other pickup trucks look fragile, weak, and a thing of the past.
Will the Tesla Cybertruck be the end of all other pickup trucks? How will other automakers improve their trucks to compete with the Cybertruck?
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Jeremy Johnson is a Tesla investor and supporter. He first invested in Tesla in 2017 after years of following Elon Musk and admiring his work ethic and intelligence. Since then, he's become a Tesla bull, covering anything about Tesla he can find, while also dabbling in other electric vehicle companies. Jeremy covers Tesla developments at Torque News. You can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn to stay in touch and follow his Tesla news coverage on Torque News.