> said to have a starting price of under $40,000 back then (and then around $61,000 last year when it was available to order but never actually entered production), you'll now have to pony up $71,985 for it, including $1,995 destination.
Tesla's pre-sale prices have always been hilarious.
I was seriously considering a cybertruck, but by launch (and directly after), it became clear that it was a lifestyle truck, not an actual utility vehicle
In case you’re wondering, motorcycles are a hobby of mine, and the most common negative review I’ve heard is that the gate weight is just low enough that two people trying to get a big bike in, occasionally, can do many thousands of dollars of damage
I’m rich and cars don’t cost me anything really. But I keep 1 sports car at a time which I buy new. Everything else I buy used because no one knows the quality of new cars and how long they will last. Daily driver has to be bullet proof. Why anyone other than wealthy people buy brand new cars is nonsensical to me.
You can get two (lightly) used Model Ys with money left over for that price, or a lightly used Model Y and a slightly older, lightly used F150 as a backup car for when you need a truck and/or need to be off charging infra (e.x. towing a boat or RV long-range).
The point of the design wasn't to be pretty, but to be different, edgy, and look rugged.
But they made a mistake by announcing the design long before they were able to produce it. By the time they had built it, the hype cycle was over, and the design was already old news.
It was also supposed to be bulletproof (presumably looking like a tank), but in reality, it turned out to be a brittle underbody with glued-on panels that were peeling off.
At the $35K starting price that Elon hyped, it could have been excused as a utilitarian design. But Tesla instead released a beta-quality product at a luxury price.
The revolutionary new cheap Tesla batteries that were supposed to make that price point possible turned out to be as real as all the other stuff Elon promised.
Had it been the exoskeleton design they promised, or even a classic truck body on frame construction, and had they actually built it from a few large "origami" folded structural metal panels, all the things they said it would be at the outset, that kind of novel design would have made the aesthetic at least interesting.
Instead, they failed at the exoskeleton design. They failed at the origami several large folded panels structure. And they kept the ugly design that those novel approaches to car building led to, but slapped it on a barely-a-truck unibody that can't compete with any other real trucks in its price range, in any dimension, and then rushed it out with serious quality issues.
A $100K unibody truck with silly aesthetics that don't actually separate it at any fundamental level from actually useful trucks, well, that just doesn't work at any scale that could make Tesla whole on the investment, much less provide them some edge in the market.
So, it's a novelty for people who enjoy getting flipped off a lot. I especially love pulling in front of them on I280 and slowing to a crawl while flipping the bird out my sunroof--and it brings extra joy when those "alpha males" have their families along.
The design was meant to be functional. Tesla wanted to use stainless steel that doesn't need paint, which is a significant part of the car cost.
But stainless steel is much milder than normal steel, so you need to use thicker panels. But thicker panels are more difficult to stamp. So why not then double down on thickness, and make the panels structural? It makes them impossible to stamp, so double down on the "flat" design.
Well, it didn't work out as intended. The whole flat panel look ended up being a total gimmick.
The way I imagine it, it was designed to look like a wireframe vector graphics video game tank, a la battlezone 1980. The design is based on the sci-fi “rule of cool”, the origami exoskeleton is retconned justification that turned out to be too tall of an ask for Elon’s engineers.
It’s subjective. I think it’s currently ugly but subtly so. I think with a few changes (that I can’t articulate) it would be a pretty good looking vehicle.
I mean, I'd buy it if it was like $5000, a compact car, and the person running the company wasn't an unlovable sociopath. Some people like the janky cheap aesthetic.
But $100k for a car like that is a complete insult to good taste. It'd be like selling a luxury 1.5m container home. The low price tag is the entire point of the jank aesthetic. You're supposed to be communicating that you reject the idea of "keeping up with the Joneses" and wear the aesthetic imperfections of the lower economic class as a badge of honor.
Of course, as with every cultural movement of any nuance, real world Dr. Eggman completely missed the point here and shat all over everything with his tone-deaf Rich Frat Boy With Asperger's schtick.
I think they look super cool. I’ve thought that since they were first announced. Just the coolest looking vehicle I’ve ever seen. My kids go “look dad, a Cybertruck!” Every time one passes.
I bought a Toyota Sequoia around the time they first started rolling out, but seriously considered the Cybertruck but it didn’t seem like it’d be able to haul a travel trailer as well as we’d have liked.
If we just look at these cars purely on their merits, I think they’d still struggle.
You’re talking about a very expensive car with tons of basic quality control issues. The EV market has stalled. I don’t need a car, but I’d probably stick to a classic gas car. Charging stations are still too few in the US.
Teslas feel like luxury secondary cars. With the economy the way it is they won’t sell well
If and when autopilot achieves level 3, the economic equation changes substantially. Whoever does it, I'd be in line demanding that they take my money. After years of false promises I understand the skepticism, but think that the industry is finally getting close. Tesla's large Cybercab bet depends on it so they are demonstrating their confidence in cash. From the beginning it has been Tesla's strategy to leverage the luxury market to fund their market-wide ambitions.
They want to boost the used market by increasing supply? What about having undershot their sales projections 20x suggests the vast sea of unmet demand this strategy depends on to work?
They'll fail in the used market until they're so hated that the price drops to scrap metal levels and then a few people will snatch them up for the novelty or literally for the scrap value.
[+] [-] JKCalhoun|11 months ago|reply
Tesla's pre-sale prices have always been hilarious.
[+] [-] karlgkk|11 months ago|reply
In case you’re wondering, motorcycles are a hobby of mine, and the most common negative review I’ve heard is that the gate weight is just low enough that two people trying to get a big bike in, occasionally, can do many thousands of dollars of damage
[+] [-] solardev|11 months ago|reply
[+] [-] monero-xmr|11 months ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|11 months ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] QuiEgo|11 months ago|reply
Don't get the value proposition at all.
[+] [-] JumpCrisscross|11 months ago|reply
[+] [-] greatgib|11 months ago|reply
[+] [-] pornel|11 months ago|reply
But they made a mistake by announcing the design long before they were able to produce it. By the time they had built it, the hype cycle was over, and the design was already old news.
It was also supposed to be bulletproof (presumably looking like a tank), but in reality, it turned out to be a brittle underbody with glued-on panels that were peeling off.
At the $35K starting price that Elon hyped, it could have been excused as a utilitarian design. But Tesla instead released a beta-quality product at a luxury price.
The revolutionary new cheap Tesla batteries that were supposed to make that price point possible turned out to be as real as all the other stuff Elon promised.
[+] [-] asadotzler|11 months ago|reply
Instead, they failed at the exoskeleton design. They failed at the origami several large folded panels structure. And they kept the ugly design that those novel approaches to car building led to, but slapped it on a barely-a-truck unibody that can't compete with any other real trucks in its price range, in any dimension, and then rushed it out with serious quality issues.
A $100K unibody truck with silly aesthetics that don't actually separate it at any fundamental level from actually useful trucks, well, that just doesn't work at any scale that could make Tesla whole on the investment, much less provide them some edge in the market.
So, it's a novelty for people who enjoy getting flipped off a lot. I especially love pulling in front of them on I280 and slowing to a crawl while flipping the bird out my sunroof--and it brings extra joy when those "alpha males" have their families along.
[+] [-] cyberax|11 months ago|reply
But stainless steel is much milder than normal steel, so you need to use thicker panels. But thicker panels are more difficult to stamp. So why not then double down on thickness, and make the panels structural? It makes them impossible to stamp, so double down on the "flat" design.
Well, it didn't work out as intended. The whole flat panel look ended up being a total gimmick.
[+] [-] danans|11 months ago|reply
Showing off has been a well understood reason for buying luxury cars from the very beginning of automobiles (when they were all luxury).
The CT just happens to be on the extremely ugly (or unconventional looking) end of the spectrum.
[+] [-] comfysocks|11 months ago|reply
[+] [-] dyauspitr|11 months ago|reply
[+] [-] Austiiiiii|11 months ago|reply
But $100k for a car like that is a complete insult to good taste. It'd be like selling a luxury 1.5m container home. The low price tag is the entire point of the jank aesthetic. You're supposed to be communicating that you reject the idea of "keeping up with the Joneses" and wear the aesthetic imperfections of the lower economic class as a badge of honor.
Of course, as with every cultural movement of any nuance, real world Dr. Eggman completely missed the point here and shat all over everything with his tone-deaf Rich Frat Boy With Asperger's schtick.
[+] [-] wincy|11 months ago|reply
I bought a Toyota Sequoia around the time they first started rolling out, but seriously considered the Cybertruck but it didn’t seem like it’d be able to haul a travel trailer as well as we’d have liked.
[+] [-] 999900000999|11 months ago|reply
You’re talking about a very expensive car with tons of basic quality control issues. The EV market has stalled. I don’t need a car, but I’d probably stick to a classic gas car. Charging stations are still too few in the US.
Teslas feel like luxury secondary cars. With the economy the way it is they won’t sell well
[+] [-] danans|11 months ago|reply
The EV market grew 10% YoY in Q125. Tesla has declined.
https://www.coxautoinc.com/market-insights/q1-2025-ev-sales/
[+] [-] ProllyInfamous|11 months ago|reply
Why is this argument frequently framed as either/or?
I love my hybrid vehicle (the Toyota gearbox is incredible, and apparently more reliable than a manual transmission).
[+] [-] shafyy|11 months ago|reply
[+] [-] delichon|11 months ago|reply
[+] [-] Psillisp|11 months ago|reply
[+] [-] thatguymike|11 months ago|reply
[+] [-] yubblegum|11 months ago|reply
[+] [-] throwanem|11 months ago|reply
[+] [-] asadotzler|11 months ago|reply