Everyone has an opinion about the Tesla Cybertruck. It's angular. It's bulletproof. It looks like something a video game character might drive through a post-apocalyptic wasteland. And according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, that's exactly the point.
Last month on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, Musk told host Joe Rogan that the Cybertruck wasn't built to shock people. He said the goal was to rewrite the rulebook for what a truck could be. "I just wanted to have something that looked really different," Musk said, describing the boxy stainless steel frame as a choice driven by both form and physics.
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Unlike traditional trucks made from stamped steel panels, the Cybertruck uses ultra-hard stainless steel—so strong it would break standard shaping equipment. "You can't just stamp the panels. It breaks the press," Musk told Rogan. That's why its design is flat and angular. It's not just a visual statement. It's structural necessity.
But Musk didn't stop at looks. He wanted the Cybertruck to offer "unique functionality," including being bulletproof to subsonic projectiles. "If the apocalypse happens, you're going to want a bulletproof truck," he said, only half-joking.
Performance-wise, Musk claimed the Cybertruck can out-tow a diesel Ford F-350 and accelerate faster than a Porsche 911—even when towing the Porsche. "It can clear a quarter mile while towing a Porsche 911 faster than a 911," he said. Then came the metaphor no one saw coming: "It's like an elephant that runs as a cheetah."
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And if you're wondering why it looks like something from a sci-fi movie, that's also on purpose. Musk said his son once asked him, "Why does the world look like it's 2015?" That critique stuck with him. He wanted Tesla's vehicles to look like the future. "We want the future to look like the future," Musk said on the podcast.
He made it clear that the Cybertruck wasn't meant to follow traditional design trends or aesthetics. "Trucks should be macho. They should be manly," he said. And when it comes to visual toughness, "bulletproof is maximum macho."
Tesla continues to iterate and improve the vehicle, but the core concept remains unchanged: make something futuristic, functional, and unlike anything else on the road.
As Musk put it plainly: "It is alien technology."
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