[highlander]

Some automotive design perspective

Excerpts:

“It literally breaks every rule we tell to our students,” Zammit says. “It’s what we tell them not to do.” No, this is not a truck built for truck designers.

See the top of the vehicle up there, and how thin it is? See the truck’s fine, narrow D-pillar, the slanted back stand that supports the roof? Based on all the triangles involved, there’s no reason to believe that the top of the truck is weak. But the thinness makes it appear to be. Zammit says he and other automotive designers teach students to add a little extra something to make the vehicle look stable, to look strong—even if it doesn’t add much to the engineering.

^^^^^
Can any one list such add-ons seen on cars sold in India...

Here’s another reason the Cybertruck may seem strange: It doesn’t look like it has all of the necessary elements to make it road-ready. The model shown onstage on Thursday night didn’t have side mirrors, which are required in the US

“By being philosophically so pure and so functional, Tesla has completely eliminated a very large part of what is the traditional automotive assembly,” he says. The company might cut down on expensive tool and die costs by keeping all elements of the car flat, straight, and, frankly, a little weird looking. “Musk might be pulling off one of the most brilliant moves in automotive history,” he says.

I doubt if this is the underlying reason behind the design.

For these reasons, the Cybertruck feels more like a concept car, says Walton, and “a really interesting one.” Other carmakers produce “concepts all the time, but then they don’t list them on their website with a ‘buy now’ button.”
The Cybertruck says, “Pack up your blasters, honey—let’s get the hell out of here.” Maybe that’s the genius, though, to make a truck for the sort of people who might not think of Tesla otherwise. Does that person exist? At the very least, says Walton, “I really admire the balls.”

[Kabeer_ts]

Our boy Elon selling Mars rovers to us earthlings.

[bmw_lover]

According to Elon Musk, the co. has so far recieved 1,50,000 orders for his CYBERTRUCK!!

(Reuters) - Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Saturday that there have been about 150,000 orders thus far for the electric carmaker's Cybertruck, which was unveiled late on Thursday.

"146k Cybertruck orders so far, with 42% choosing dual, 41% tri & 17% single motor", Musk said in a tweet, adding separately that the orders were achieved without any advertising or paid endorsements.

Originally Posted by GTO

The USA market buys 1.5 lakh pickup trucks a month

Guess Musk has already bettered the F150!!


source

[knaveen]

Not sure if this is a silly question. So there are literally no crumple zones? The exceptionally strong shell is good in one aspect, but without crumplezones, no dissipation of forces and god save the other car involved in a collision.

[Guna]

One thing that immediately comes to my mind is the 'pedestrian safety' with the super-sharp edges (other issue being it hurting the eyes, well at least I find it as an eyesore). If they had a way to may the wheels also non-circle, they would have done it.

[bivin]

Personally love the way it looks!! looks like an 80s concept car. Almost like a sibling to the Countach.

P.S: We desperately need a love it/hate it poll. What say mods?

[aim120]

Originally Posted by knaveen

Not sure if this is a silly question. So there are literally no crumple zones? The exceptionally strong shell is good in one aspect, but without crumplezones, no dissipation of forces and god save the other car involved in a collision.

I believe the thickness of the bonnet/hood will be lower, 3mm isn't required for that and it will make it super heavy to open and because it has a frunk it will still crumple.


Coupled with Tesla standard safety features like auto braking, collision avoidance etc it will safer for pedestrians.

[Guite]

Originally Posted by bivin

P.S: We desperately need a love it/hate it poll. What say mods?

I would definitely be on the hate it side. It looks like something from the hideos modification thread, where the workshop do not have sheet forming tools and used flat metal sheets. This same design were it to come from any other country and any other company would have been panned to death.

[digitalnirvana]

Originally Posted by bmw_lover

According to Elon Musk, the co. has so far recieved 1,50,000 orders for his CYBERTRUCK!!

To be honest though, that's kind of expected on a $100 fully refundable booking. It's a 2 year free money for them and it remains to be seen how many of these prebookings actually translate to orders. I'd say even 25-30% would be a game changer for the pick up truck space. It'd also be a massive headache for Tesla to prioritise their production lines and the S or 3 might suffer.

Personally I am going out on a limb and backing the Rivian R1T to be more successful / widely adopted among the *existing* pickup truck community. At the price of a fully kitted F150 you get a go anywhere Baja racer with 4 wheel independent motors, great range, that looks awesome yet not bizzare, has Bezos' unlimited money behind it, and credit to Rivian they've been silently readying the product for a long time now.

The Cybertruck would be my first choice if I had the money to buy an electric though. And I think it'd entice a lot of people who've never used a pickup/UTE into owning one. I wouldn't even think of a 3 or a base S. At $40k I'd get the base truck model and wrap it with a camo paint. *drools*


Also read this on Twitter about Tesla marketing strategy and lack of traditional advertising. It helps understand the great initial reception. Tesla is a cult (not saying that in a negative way at all). It's all because of Musk. He's an absolute mad genius.

[fache89]

If this is future of Electric pick up trucks, I would like to stay in present forever. For some weird reason, it looks like they took inspiration from the car in movie Back to the Future.

To top it all, the crashing of armoured glass on the launch day only reinforces what future this car holds. Did I say future one too many times in this post ?

[gururajrv]

Volumes are speaking for themselves as per Elon. Despite the design is dividing the views in everyone, Tesla has got us the future to experience today itself.

It’s design is surely distinct. But, strong window stunt went extremely south and got in a bit of discomfort to Elon

[amritpal2489]

Originally Posted by gururajrv

Volumes are speaking for themselves as per Elon. Despite the design is dividing the views in everyone, Tesla has got us the future to experience today itself.

It’s design is surely distinct. But, strong window stunt went extremely south and got in a bit of discomfort to Elon

IMO, This smashed armoured window stunt was hell of a marketing trick. This is what set the ball rolling and such huge bookings were received

[gururajrv]

Originally Posted by amritpal2489

IMO, This smashed armoured window stunt was hell of a marketing trick. This is what set the ball rolling and such huge bookings were received

Ya marketing trick - but they initially planned on showing off how strong the materials on the glass were, per the demonstration they gave before the ball was thrown at the glass.

Whatever, that was supposed to do, sales ball is still rolling and gathering numbers. This could be a game changer for Tesla, as I remember vaguely they’d troubles that surfaced recently on making sales number or profits. But, I really like Elon for whatever he is doing since beginning. He’s seriously a game changer for EV. I really got introduced to EV through Tesla

[kiku007]

Here's a video explaining why the Cybertruck is the way it is from an influencer's pov

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX1xG0a4TVo

In one word? Disruption.

The SUV/Truck market is very difficult to break into for a company like Tesla and the weapon they have chosen is, "uniqueness".

The design is too radical or rudimentary depending on the individual. I'll be watching how this truck performs in the real world and would reserve my judgement until then.

[rajess_in]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

IMO this design would've worked great in the 80's to 90's. That was when Sci-Fi caught our imagination. Adults were fascinated by HG Wells' novels and even as tiny tots we dreamily imagined the wondrous life of The Jetsons..

This shape or unique design is because they have used a grade of steel which is very difficult to even bend (based on my limited knowledge on sheet metals). So the panels have to be straight / flat. Also welding them would also mean tedious. Hence the Sci-fi looks.

But this sure makes for good troll material...