Elon Musk has never been one to hold back his feelings, so the Tesla (TSLA) CEO's comments about the electric vehicle maker's long-awaited Cybertruck should come as no surprise.
'Our Best Product Ever'
"It will be our best product ever imo," Musk tweeted on June 6.
Those are mighty big words from a guy who'll say...well, just about anything.
The Cybertruck certainly has plenty of build-up behind it.
Musk first unveiled the electric pickup in 2019 at a promotional event in Los Angeles.
That presentation was marked by a demonstration of the vehicle's shatter-proof and purportedly bulletproof window that went slightly askew after an aide hurled a metallic ball at the front window and instantly shattered it.
"Oh my f*** God," Musk was heard to mutter.
'Gonna be Epic'
The vehicle has been described as something out of the films "Mad Max" and "Blade Runner" and Musk himself said in 2019 that the Cybertruck had been "influenced partly by 'The Spy Who Loved Me,'" a reference to the amphibious Lotus Esprit S1 featured in the 1977 James Bond film.
For a while, the Cybertruck might have seemed like something out of a science fiction flick, existing only in the future.
But then in April, at the much-hyped opening of the company's "gigafactory" in Austin, Texas, Musk finally announced that Tesla would start producing the Cybertruck in 2023
"We're gonna start manufacturing Cybertruck next year," Musk said during the official opening of of Tesla's fourth production site in Austin, TX.
“I can’t wait to have this baby around. [Cybertruck] is gonna be epic,” the billionaire said about the electric pickup truck.
The buzz surrounded this vehicle has been growing for a long time and it has reached a point where Tesla is no longer taking orders for the Cybertruck in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
The Cybertruck made an appearance on June 6 at the opening of the PG&E energy storage facility in Moss Landing, Calif., which features rows of Tesla batteries.
'A Huge Step Forward'
The event was covered by KSBW Action News and naturally inspired a range of comments on social media.
"Even for an early prototype which this isn't it's supposed to be the production version that interior and the entire truck is absolutely hideous," one person tweeted.
"This is a huge step forward for mankind in renewable energy options in real time," one commenter said. "We need examples of this magnitude actually coming into practice and publicized, showing the world the reality of what can be accomplished. This is an AWESOME beginning."
"And wtf with the whole fluffy carpet thing?!" another poster declared. "looks too cheap. Simplicity doesn’t have to be cheap. Their competitors are probably laughing right now."
Oh, yes, competitors. The Cybertruck will not be alone in its travels down the highways and byways.
There are other electric trucks out on the roads, including Ford's (F) F-150 Lightning electric pickup, Rivian's (RIVN) R1T and General Motors' (GM) Hummer, a reborn version of the 1990s gas guzzler.
'The New Big Three'
In fact, automotive engineer Sandy Munro recently named Tesla, Ford and Rivian are the three companies in North America "that are going to make it."
"I think these are the new Big Three," Munro said.
Last month, Ford pared its stake in Rivian, selling off 8 million of its 102 million Rivian shares. JPMorgan Chase also planned to sell 13 million to 15 million shares.
The decision came at the end of a 180-day lockup period--the time during which the initial investors of a company that goes public cannot sell their shares to avoid flooding the market.
Ford's all-electric vehicles have taken off with sales hitting a new record of 6,254 units in May, up 222% year-over-year.
F-150 Lightning customers are also the recipients of what appear to be a bit of snark in the form of an adapter that enables them to charge stranded Teslas.
"Here you go!" one person said on the Lightning Owners Forum. "Lightning to the rescue. We can help all those poor dead Teslas."
