As the days pass, the production start date of the Cybertruck approaches.
This futuristic pickup truck developed by Tesla (TSLA) is undoubtedly the most anticipated vehicle of the last decade.
No vehicle had generated so much excitement, fueled in part by thundering statements from Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and other top executives.
It has fan pages discussing its features, wondering which options of the presentation model will be part of the version that will be mass-produced.
Internet searches related to the Cybertruck are considerable. According to car advice website Rerev, the Cybertruck generated nearly 2 million Google searches this year. Other electric vehicles of interest to consumers come well behind. The Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV generated around 232,000 Google Searches in comparison, and the Jeep Avenger just over 173,000.
'The Spy Who Loved Me'
These last two vehicles are respectively the second and third most searched electric vehicles on Google after the Cybertruck. The monumental gap is a good indicator of the expectations generated by Tesla's vehicle, which aims to change the way pickup trucks are perceived, starting with the design.
"We've pulled people away from their kind of normal comfort zone and brought them something that's just radically different and will be on the street radically different and, you know, if you're not used to attention might be a little tough in the beginning," Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla's Chief Vehicle Designer, said in January.
Musk first unveiled the electric pickup truck prototype in November 2019, at a promotional event in Los Angeles. The vehicle has been described as something out of the films "Mad Max" and "Blade Runner."
The billionaire himself said that the Cybertruck had been "influenced partly by 'The Spy Who Loved Me,'" in a reference to the amphibious Lotus Esprit S1, featured in the 1977 James Bond film.
Clearly, the goal is to push the envelope, cementing the corporate image of being at the forefront of innovation. Tesla is not like the others: this is the message sent by Musk via the Cybertruck.
Demand is so high, that Tesla no longer takes orders outside North America. The question remains, however, whether the Cybertruck is a vehicle that will be mass produced.
Musk and Tesla answered yes to this question from the onset, by giving a base price of $39,900. In January, Musk indicated that production would start later this year. Production would ramp up from 2024, but the billionaire did not provide any figures.
The vehicle will be produced at Tesla's Austin plant, which has a production capacity of over 250,000 vehicles per year. This site already manufactures the Model Y SUV.
For several weeks, the excitement has mounted even more around the Cybertruck, because of the fleet of prototypes that Tesla is testing in California and Texas. Short videos of these prototypes are posted on social networks, generating many comments from fans who seem amazed by the vehicle.
'The Future'
Musk often posts comments which create new expectations or confirm speculations. That's what he just did. On March 27, a fan posted a short 4-second video in which we can see one of the prototypes of the Cybertruck driving by. Musk took the opportunity to extol the merits of the pickup truck, saying that it will mark the advent of a new era for the automotive industry. For him, the Cybertruck is simply the future.
"Cybertruck cruisin by! @elonmusk I <3 U!" the Twitter user posted.
"Cybertruck will change the look of the roads," Musk responded. "Finally feels like the future."
Many analysts predict that the Cybertruck will become Tesla's cash machine, given the excitement that it is generating. But other experts, like star analyst Adam Jonas at Morgan Stanley, see it as a vehicle that will serve to reinforce the myth around the Austin, Texas-based automaker.
Calling the Cybertruck the "ultimate avant-garde vehicle," Jonas said early March that the vehicle will more likely be an "enthusiast/cult car with far more limited volume (closer to 50k units/year) with some design and manufacturing learnings that could ultimately migrate to the rest of Tesla’s core lineup."
"We feel the Cybertruck carries more value in a cultural/zeitgeist sense than in a direct economic sense. At the same time, we encourage our readers to ask themselves: how many Cybertrucks can roll up to a parent-teacher conference or youth soccer match at the same time before losing some of that indescribable... something?"
