Zac Quinn 
The Tesla Cybertruck features a simplistic yet futuristic design, clearly something someone loves or hates. Despite the electric truck debuting almost two years ago, people have yet to have a chance for it to grow on them. That said, even Tesla CEO Elon Musk has accepted the possibility that the truck could be a total failure. With the number of delays due to design issues, we were under the impression that all the wrinkles were ironed out, but in recent photos posted to Reddit, along with a recent comment from a designer, it doesn’t look like that’s the case.
No camo needed anymore…. Look ma, Cybertruck! What the? I’m more excited today than yesterday $tsla pic.twitter.com/Ux0EWBCxhn
— TOC San Joaquin Valley (@SjvTesla) June 22, 2023
What’s Wrong With The Tesla Cybertruck?
According to Carscoops, Redditor u/kmraceratx recently posted seven closeup pictures of Tesla Cybertrucks with varyingly misaligned panels. The post has sparked a significant outcry from other Reddit users, discussing how Tesla is “one of the richest companies in the world.” Despite the years it has been delayed, the vehicle is far from seamless. It’s unclear how close to production the trucks in the photos are, but they shed some light on design compromises from creating a car with a stainless steel body. If these are the production-ready models, we have to say: Yikes.
Sure, these are likely vehicles that won’t be sold to the public as of yet, but there’s clearly work to do.
Musk allegedly sent an email to Tesla staff demanding that the truck be made to “sub-10-micron accuracy” like what can be found on legos or soda cans. That’s fine, except that should have been a goal expressed years ago, not after design and development had been completed. According to Jalopnik, car designer Adrian Clarke recently said that this demand for greater precision is almost impossible due to body panel tolerances being measurable in entire millimeters to allow for variance in assembly, not to mention the fact that thermal expansion and the contraction of vehicles is a thing and has a part to play in everything.
While Musk is aware that these are troubles that manufacturers face, he’s convinced that tighter tolerances will be the fix the Cybertruck needs. This doesn’t even account for the fact that the Cybertruck is already close to starting mass production. Sure, Musk is shooting to have a truck that is extremely simple and clean, but it seems there are far too many obstacles in the way of this, including crash tests, pedestrian impact regulations, which it is circumventing with a DOT Class 2b gross vehicle weight rating. Clarke has expressed that the only natural way to fix the Tesla Cybertruck is to scrap the current design and start over. But, based on everybody’s hype for the truck, let alone Elon Musk, we have a feeling that’s not going to happen. Ultimately, we all will be watching the launch of the electric pickup with great interest.
