Tesla CEO Elon Musk hasn’t offered many key details about the coming Cybertruck — such as final pricing and range — even after celebrating the first pickup rolling off the assembly line. But he has dropped hints that Tesla is targeting the Ford F-150 in both serious and humorous ways.
After Tesla showed an image of the “first Cybertruck built at Giga Texas” in mid-July, Musk commented on the size of the pickup, which is smaller than the prototype first presented in 2019. The proportions of the four-door truck also favor bed size compared with current rivals, such as the F-150 Lightning.
While the Cybertuck has wild styling and is sometimes dismissed as a lifestyle vehicle by analysts, Tesla has some specific metrics in mind to compare against rival pickups, both gasoline and electric.
“Musk has promised and boasted big numbers,” said Robby DeGraff, product and consumer insights analyst at AutoPacific. “Brute strength, insane performance and grand range. But will it match the off-road chops of Rivian’s innovative R1T? Is it more of a workhorse than Ford’s F-150 Lighting? We just don’t know yet.”
On Tesla’s second-quarter earnings call last month, Musk shared some specifications of the final product. Tesla also clarified that the first truck off the line was a “release candidate” and not the production version.
“This is the first truck — that we’re aware of — that will have four doors, over a six-foot bed and fit into a 20-foot garage,” Musk said. “So it’s sort of biggish on the outside, but it’s even bigger on the inside.”
A standard two-car garage size is 20-feet deep, according to J.D. Power, while one-car garages are generally shorter, and sizes can vary significantly.
Tesla said in its earnings report that the Cybertruck is less than 19 feet long.
“Both technologically and architecturally, this vehicle will break a lot of boundaries — very much in line with how we think about vehicle engineering and manufacturing,” the report said.
A few early Cybertrucks have also been photographed in public wearing vinyl wraps that make them look like F-150 pickups. The wraps mimic the door handles, body stampings and other elements of the Ford. The wrapped Cybertrucks have been spotted on vehicle carriers.
Tesla no longer has a press office and doesn’t respond to media inquiries.
Also in the earnings report, Tesla used the phrase, “Cybertruck — built to do real work,” on a photo of the pickup driving on a muddy road. The phrase could be a reference to Ford CEO Jim Farley, who told CNBC in June that the Cybertruck was designed for “Silicon Valley people” while Ford makes trucks for “real work.”
The Cybertruck was designed as an EV from the ground up, which gives it some advantages over the F-150 Lightning, which is a heavily modified version of America’s best-selling vehicle. The Lightning is 19.4 feet long with a 5.6-foot bed, according to Ford’s website. Ford’s combustion pickups come in a wide variety of sizes and bed lengths.
The 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV, in its work-truck version, is 19.4 feet long with a 5-foot-11 inch bed. Like the Cybertruck and the Rivian R1T, the Silverado was also designed from the ground-up as an electric vehicle. The R1T is smaller at 18 feet long with a 4.5-foot bed.
Sandy Munro, founder and CEO of Munro & Associates, said in a July 25 YouTube video that Tesla appears to have abandoned its plans to use an exoskeleton structural design as a cost-saving measure on the Cybertruck.
Munro, whose company tears down vehicles to provide design analysis, said that recent photographs from Tesla suggest the new pickup uses an internal framework similar to traditional manufacturers. The Cybertruck’s original design featured an outer skeleton using exterior panels as structural elements.
“I was hoping for something a little bit different,” Munro said of the photos. “This could be why it took so long to get the Cybertruck to the marketplace. It just didn’t work quite as well as they were hoping for, so in essence, they had to go to plan B.”
Munro added: “This is definitely not exactly what Elon really wanted, but this is going to be a rugged product.”
Other Cybertruck images reviewed by Munro also suggest the pickup may not have much room for a front trunk, or frunk, like other Tesla models do. That’s due in part to a short front end.
“It’s not going to be filled with room, but I don’t think Tesla would put anything out into the marketplace without some sort of frunk,” Munro said, adding that it’s a signature design element of the brand.
Munro also suggested that the Cybertruck, F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T are different enough from one another to appeal to different buyers. The Lightning is more of a work truck, the Rivian is for serious off-roading and the Cybertruck is best for camping and lighter outdoor activities, he said.
DeGraff said that Tesla already has a loyal customer base that’s likely to consider a Cybertruck, whether for work or play.
“Maybe an enthusiastic, loyal Model 3 owner has always wanted a capable vehicle to venture off the grid and take camping,” DeGraff said. “Perhaps we’ll see Model X owners flock to Home Depot to stock up on stacks of lumber for a long-delayed home project. Hopefully it’ll be more on the practical side than just a boulevard cruiser.”
