Musk standing in front of the shattered windows of the Cybertruck. — AFP
LOS ANGELES: Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk took to the stage late Thursday to reprise a familiar role: pitching a future vehicle to a throng of adoring fans. This time, it’s the "Cybertruck” - his name for Tesla’s new electric pickup truck.
After a "Blade Runner”-inspired introduction, Musk had tesla’s long time chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen, smash the truck’s steel exterior with a sledgehammer, showing that it did not dent.
The second demonstration, of "Tesla armor glass,” was the real show stopper: von Holzhausen unintentionally shattered two windows with a metallic ball, causing Musk to exclaimed in shock.
Given how product launches are usually scripted and rehearsed, the broken windows were the evening’s big surprise.
The evening began with a slide show of standard pickup trucks throughout the years, and Musk’s vow to make something different that runs on sustainable energy.
"You want a truck that’s really tough, not fake tough,” Musk said, in what seemed to be a veiled swipe at Ford Motor Co.’s slogan. "A truck you can take a sledgehammer to that doesn’t dent.”
Tesla fans, who packed the audience, liked what they saw.
"It’s like something out of a movie set,” said Elizabeth Lepek of Marina del Rey, California, a current Model X owner who placed a US$100 deposit for the Cybertruck. "It’s so futuristic. I like the design of it. There’s nothing quite like it on the road.”
But traditional truck buyers are a tougher audience and less likely to be impressed by Silicon Valley sizzle.
"It misses the core truck buyer,” said Gene Munster, a managing partner at venture capital firm Loup Ventures. "A contractor is not going to show up to a work site in this truck. That said, Tesla will still sell some of them.”
The hashtag #cybertruck quickly began trending on Twitter as potential customers started sharing their views about the futuristic design and the window snafu.
