Tesla Designer: Cybertruck’s Funky Design Gives It an Edge
Tesla’s top designer said the recently launched Cybertruck will test whether a pickup with unconventional looks can gain traction in a category known for meat-and-potatoes styling. “Some people’s trash is other people’s treasure," Franz von Holzhausen said of the vehicle’s angular body design, speaking to reporters Thursday at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Tesla wasn’t seeking to follow in the footsteps of companies like Ford Motor when it designed a pickup truck, the designer said.
Most of the pickups available for sale today are indistinguishable from one another, he said, and Von Holzhausen wanted the Cybertruck to look different from everything else on the road. Such media briefings are rare for executives at Tesla, which has become more closed off to reporters over the years. The company excluded mainstream news outlets from last month’s launch event for the Cybertruck, relying instead on social-media influencers to relay their experiences.
Originally unveiled in 2019, the Cybertruck is Tesla’s first new passenger-vehicle model in several years. Tesla delivered the first batch of trucks to customers last month. The stainless-steel-clad pickup truck is hitting the market at an uncertain time for electric-car makers in the U.S.
As more battery-powered vehicles are being released, signs are emerging of weaker-than-expected demand domestically. Tesla and its investors are counting on the polarizing truck to draw attention to the brand. While Chief Executive Elon Musk has said the company ultimately aims to build 250,000 Cybertrucks a year, he has cautioned it’s likely to take at least a year to hit that level of output.
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