Musk Provides Cybertruck Design Updates to Tesla (TSLA)

Colorful Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk provided updates on the company’s Cybertruck, which launched with enthusiasm in 2019, and suggested that it may end up flop in the market.

On Twitter, Musk’s favorite social media platform, the CEO wrote that the car’s doors would not have handles. Instead, he would just recognize the owner and open the door. He also said the Tesla team planned to keep the same design that was shown when it launched in 2019. “Just a few small tweaks here and there to make it slightly better,” he wrote.

When it launched, the trapezoidal design and unconventional yoke of the truck, instead of a steering wheel, drew bemused responses from analysts and watchers at Tesla. Toni Sacconaghi, senior technology research analyst at Bernstein, wrote that the web truck was “weird… like, really weird.”

But the highlight of the launch event was the shattering of the windows of a demo Cybertruck by Tesla chief design officer Franz von Halzhausen with a metal ball. Musk had said the windows could withstand bullets from a 9mm handgun.

As with most Tesla products, however, the public lapped the truck and immediately submitted the $ 100 pre-order amounts. Musk, who is not afraid of free publicity, has bragged about the numbers at public events and on Twitter.

But his mood on Thursday was more cautious. He said there is a chance that the all-electric truck will not succeed “because it looks like nothing else.” He wrote: “Other trucks look like copies of the same thing, but Cybertruck appears to have been made by aliens from the future. With a starting price of $ 39,900 for a rear-wheel drive (RWD) model, the truck is expected to begin production later this year.

A market dominated by established automakers

According to Motor Intelligence sales data, pickup trucks accounted for 20.1% of total new car sales last year. The pickup truck market is dominated by established automakers. With a market share of 36.1%, General Motors Company (GM) led the market and Ford Motor Company (F) was second with a market share of 33.8%.

Even as Tesla prepares to manufacture its truck, Ford has already passed it to launch fully electric versions of its pickup trucks. It released an all-electric version of the F-150, its best-selling gasoline truck, earlier this year. General Motors has also entered the market with its GMC Hummer EV, scheduled for delivery in 2023. Although it does not feature Tesla’s unconventional vehicle design, Ford’s all-electric truck has been well received by the market. A startup, Rivian, has also entered the fray of all-electric pickup trucks with the R1T, which offers range comparable to Tesla’s Cybertruck and is also eligible for a federal tax credit.

Given Tesla’s earlier problems with on-time product release and increased competition, the success of its electric truck is far from certain. But that’s not a cause for concern for Musk. “I don’t care,” he wrote on Twitter, citing a prospect of the electric truck failing. “I love him so much even though other people don’t like him.”