Back in September, I took a small team from MotorTrend to see the Tesla Cybertruck, in very early stages of its conceptual design. Tesla told us we were the first outsiders, and only media outlet to see the vehicle, period. By the time you read this, the Tesla’s game-changing truck will already have broken the internet, set Twitter ablaze and sent fanboys and shortsellers around the world into paroxysms of shock, disgust, outrage and possibly lust.
My team has covered the story better than any other outlet, as you will find at motortrend.com/cybertruck, so it’s fun for me to disclose how some of us reacted after seeing it for the first time. Christian Seabaugh, Kim Reynolds, Mark Williams, Sean Holman, and I spent hours with the Tesla’s design team on a warm Friday afternoon, at Tesla’s design studio in Hawthorne, CA with Franz von Holzhausen and Elon Musk, who walked us through the truck’s origin story. We hope to tell that story some day soon, but for now, it’s off the record. When we emerged, blinking in the light of day and walked back to the parking lot, everyone was quiet, immersed in thought.
We had truck-pooled together; five us stuffed into a Ram 1500, and it was still absolutely silent as we pulled out of Tesla’s parking lot, amidst the Model 3, S and X vehicles parked and plugged into the superchargers. It remained quiet until we pulled out onto a busy street and saw regular cars and trucks, in traffic. I recall saying–“Can you imagine? Can you imagine how crazy it will look when that truck is on the road, with regular cars?” And with that, five dudes unburdened themselves–here are some choice thoughts:
“As a traditional truck person, I feel like every preconceived notion I’ve known about trucks has been shattered. I feel violated. I think I need a shower, a cigarette and a nap, in no particular order. When I walked in I was shocked. That’s not it, right? It can’t be. It’s too brutal, too radical, too assertive. It’s military, think armored car, stealth, think F-117 or Zumwalt, it’s video game, think 8-bit. But is it a truck? I need time to think, to marinate.” –Sean Holman, MTG Truck/Offroad group content director.
“First thoughts after entering the design studio was that the only thing missing in the space was anything remotely looking like what I would consider a Tesla pickup truck … nothing else but the Stealth-military-styled pyramid video game concept in the center of the floor.” – Mark Williams, truck expert and Truck of the Year judge.
“This is a huge gamble–a high-risk and massively polarizing design. The Hollywood-future-shock category is where Tesla truck is residing. It will dominate the conversation when it appears, and rack up a spreadsheets of presale orders, but I wonder for how long?” – Kim Reynolds, testing director.
Just prior to the reveal, we received our first photos of the truck, which I was able to reveal to the broader MotorTrend staff during our regular staff meeting. For the sake of privacy, I did not put the images on the large wall-mounted monitors, but had the team huddle around photographer Brian Vance’s laptop and record their very first impressions:
“1970s wedge sports car/concept–Lamborghini Countach, Mercedes C111, Dome Zero. I’m getting Aliens APC vibes. Also reminded of the Brubaker Box van. Interior by Nerf. Dang, that’s a lot of right angles.” – Alex Nishimoto, news editor
“WTF!!! … Are they trying to mimic an F-117 with the diamond and triangles? FF91 copycat? Someone’s horrible sketching project?” – Stefan Ogbac, associate editor
“The Cybertruck looks like, if in 1985, Saturn had unveiled an iteration of the Disney Monorail designed the apocalypse.” – Ben Keeshin, video producer
“Did Vector make a truck? It almost looks like an SUV, and I bet that’s no accident. I’m impressed by how far Tesla was willing to go away from their existing design language. That takes guts.” – Zach Gale, senior production editor.
“What is that? Origami? Could it be a military vehicle? Where’s the bed? Wait, is that really a truck?” – Miguel Cortina, MotorTrend en Espanol.
“I immediately thought of DeLorean, in a good way. It looks capable off-road, but it looks like more of an SUV than a truck. I wonder about visibility, how will you see out of it?” – Kelly Lin, associate editor.
“Brian Vance pulled me away from the MT Awards party to look at the Tesla truck images. My first thought was I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Are these really the images!? Wow that’s brave.” – Alan Muir, creative director.
“Oh wow… Hmm interesting… New age/off-road Delorean. The internet will be TRIGGERED. First initial reaction, MT APPLE CAR COVER! Yikes…” – Carol Ngo, social media editor.
What is your reaction to Tesla’s Cybertruck? Love it? Hate it? Will you buy it? Comment on our social media posts or shoot me your thoughts on Twitter @edloh. Enjoy our exclusive coverage.
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The post Shock, Horror, Lust, Disgust: MotorTrend Reactions to the Tesla Cybertruck appeared first on MotorTrend.
Source: WORLD NEWS
