Designer of Cybertrucks claims that the Tesla stainless steel pickup is not a test.
Designer of Cybertrucks claims that the Tesla stainless steel pickup is not a test.
By Cath Turner and Nichola Groom
23 December 2023
Reuters, Los Angeles, December 21 - The lead designer of the electric vehicle manufacturer stated on Thursday that the Cybertruck's angular, divisive form will help strengthen the Tesla brand and that the pickup was not an experiment.
At the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, which is integrating Cybertruck models into a Tesla show, Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen stated, "Love it or hate it, it's a conversation starter and it gets people talking about the brand."
With a lower range than initially promised, the long-delayed Cybertruck starts at $60,990, more than 50% more than what CEO Elon Musk had bragged about in 2019.
However, according to von Holzhausen, it is attracting interest from those who have never bought a truck, with some prospective buyers waiting in line at some Tesla stores.
He continued, "Just because it looks different doesn't mean that it can't be a high volume vehicle," asserting that the pick-up's performance is on par with that of its more established competitors. "There seems to be this air of doubt."
"We're bringing people into the market that never would have owned a truck before," von Holzhausen stated. "And so I don't think it's an experiment."
The truck's stainless steel exterior is all angles, partly because curves in steel cannot be bent with a conventional press. The design was also influenced by the aggressively angular Lamborghini Countach and Lockheed's F-117 Stealth Fighter fighter, according to von Holzhausen.
"It looks like it shouldn't do what it does, yet, intelligent engineers figured it out," he stated on the F-117.
The car-turned-submarine in the 1977 James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me," which Musk purchased, served as another source of inspiration for the Tesla design team.
Not everything about the Cybertruck's launch went as planned.
During the truck's premiere event in 2019, von Holzhausen hurled a metal ball at it, breaking two of the windows made of reinforced glass. He threw a baseball at the windows at another ceremony last month, the one where the first trucks were brought, and it broke no glass.
A recent viral video also saw the Cybertruck towing a Christmas tree being dragged by a gasoline-powered vehicle up a hill that it was unable to climb.
Von Holzhausen, however, defended the vehicle, claiming that people have mistaken him for Elon Musk when he drives the Cybertruck and that his children enjoy having their schoolwork picked up in it.
Hyunjoo Jin provided additional reporting; Peter Henderson wrote the piece; and Miral Fahmy edited it.
Source reuters.com
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