Elon Musk deserves credit for being a visionary when it comes to pushing the world into adopting electric vehicles (EVs). He has made Tesla (TSLA) -) the gold standard for the industry and it's fair to say that his company's success has forced other automakers to embrace EVs well before they would have.
Tesla's vehicle lineup may have accelerated the end of internal combustion engines (ICE) but the actual cars aren't particularly visually revolutionary. Yes, Musk's company has built cars that compare well with higher-end luxury vehicles, but its cars still look like cars. They're nice takes on the form with sleek lines, but put a Model S, Model Y, Model X, or even a Model 3 next to Toyota, Nissan, or even a BMW sedan and all your choices still look like they share a lot of the same DNA.
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That's not the case with Tesla's new Cybertruck. The new vehicle, which does not look like a classic pickup truck in any way, was an intentional attempt to do things differently. It's something Musk wanted to do because he found the classic Ford (F) -) F-150 design "boring," according to comments shared by biographer Walter Isaacson.
"He's sitting there with his design chief Franz von Holzhausen and looking at a Ford truck and he said, 'No, these things are boring,'" Isaacson said. "He doesn't like to be bored and he puts up things from movies, from sci-fi, from video games and says, 'I want it like that,'"
Musk, of course, fully controls Tesla and while Isaacson did share that employees pushed back, ultimately the CEO ended the debate.
"Yeah, stop it. We're gonna do it. We're gonna make it edgy," he said.
That has led to Tesla creating a new truck that for practical work purposes isn't really a truck.
Image source: Nic Coury/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Tesla's Cybertruck Isn't a Truck
Most people who buy a Ford F-150 do so because they use the truck for work. There are, of course, people who just like owning a truck and weekend warriors who don't use the truck for their main job, but like having the bed, hauling ability, and other features that make a truck different from a car.
Tesla's Cybertruck isn't just futuristic and less "boring" than a traditional truck, it sacrifices usefulness for Musk wanting it to be different. Cybertruck is actually closer to the old Chevrolet El Camino -- a car with a short open pickup truck-like bed -- than it is a pickup truck.
The new Tesla vehicle does not have an open bed and there's no feasible way to mount racks like you can on a regular pickup truck. You won't be able to use Cybertruck to move ladders, haul drywall, or load up anything that does not fit inside its limited, and not very open bed.
Cybertruck does have truck-like hauling capacity, but it's basically a station wagon that can open up its storage area and that has severe limits when it comes to actual work.
Cybertruck Is a Vanity Play
Cybertruck is a product created by a company unwilling to say "no" to its CEO. It's a bit like the car Homer Simpson created when his brother, Herb Powell, instructed his engineers to listen to every idea the lovable idiot had and not push back.
Cybertruck may not have a drink holder that can fit a Big Gulp or a horn that plays "La Cucaracha," but it's no less a vanity play.
That does not mean that the Cybertruck will fail. There are plenty of people who drive trucks but never use them for actual work. An F-150 might be "boring" but it's practical and designed for work.
Cybertruck is an absurd novelty that will sell because Musk and Tesla have enough fans that it can sell more or less anything. This won't end like "The Simpsons" where Herb Powell was bankrupted by his brother's unchecked ideas, but it's a warning sign about what happens when a CEO's worst instincts can't be checked by his employees.
