Is the Tesla Cybertruck Design Too Polarizing to Sell Well?

In front of a large crowd, lots of lasers, a Delorean, and more, Elon Musk revealed the Cybertruck. It’s Tesla’s first attempt at a pickup truck, but it looks nothing like a pickup truck. Picture a wedge shaped armored military vehicle from the distant future, then give that 500 miles of range, a sub-3-second 0-60 time, and a payload capacity of 14,000 pounds. That’s the Cybertruck.

However, it’s still got your core pickup truck components; a full size crew cab, a 6.5 foot bed, and plenty of torque and towing capacity. It even has excellent off-roading capability.

The truck’s design hasn’t been publicly known for more than 24 hours as of writing, but that hasn’t stopped the internet from declaring it anything from abhorrently ugly to a sci-fi beauty. But when a company steps out into unknown territory by releasing such a bold design it’s always bound to create some divisiveness. But considering again that the Cybertruck looks nothing like any other truck, did Tesla go too bold with their first try at a pickup? Perhaps a more modest design would attract more traditional pickup owners? Will this design flop because of its unforgivingly futuristic design?

No, no, and not even slightly. The fact that the Cybertruck bears no resemblance to any other truck is the exact kind of appeal that will attract buyers. Tesla knew they had a great opportunity to take the pickup truck segment by storm by releasing a model that couldn’t be compared to any other model. The Cybertruck ditches the segmented cab/bed blueprint of a pickup and instead opts for a contained design with no interrupted lines, and flat surfaces galore. This design even says ‘screw it’ to headlights and a grille, where both are replaced by a large flat rectangular body panel, with a razor thin LED lighter at top. Compare this to the likes of GM, Ford, and Dodge where their truck designs have maintained the same general shape for decades.

So while many will be vocal about their distaste for Tesla’s bold new design, I’ll be vocal about my celebration for Tesla’s boldness. The car industry as a whole needs new life as car enthusiasts grow increasingly melancholic as companies hasten their transition to electric vehicles, and so we should be thankful for Tesla for making electric cars not just interesting, but cool. The buzz that the Cybertruck has created already signifies the mark it will leave on the industry, and it’s my belief that this pre-production excitement will translate excellently to post-production sales.