Lucas Bell 
There is no denying that Elon Musk has been a bit of a force in the automotive industry as of late. Tesla has amassed a huge amount of passionate devotees in recent years, who remain adamant the automaker crafts the greatest vehicles on the road. This is why when the Tesla Cybertruck made its catastrophic debut, we were told every other pickup truck would become irrelevant next to the pseudo battle tank. Well according to a new survey from Cox Automotive, this isn’t actually the case. In fact, most potential pickup buyers in the U.S. prefer the upcoming electric Ford F-150.
Cox Automotive published the new study earlier this week, which is based on input from 155 in-market consumers. The study asked buyers looking to purchase a truck in the next two years about upcoming electric pickup trucks. The trucks highlighted included the Tesla Cybertruck, electric Ford F-150, GMC Hummer EV, and Rivian R1T. The study asked respondents if they would consider purchasing the vehicle, as well as how appealing they found the product. Cox Automotive showed imaged without product details or brand identifiers, as to eliminate brand loyalty.
Unfortunately for Elon, the electric Ford F-150 dominated the show. In terms of overall appeal, the electric Ford won over 59 percent of respondents, whereas the Hummer EV captured 2nd place with 41 percent of the votes. The Rivian proved to be more appealing than the Cybertruck as well, capturing 39 percent compared to the Tesla’s 19 percent.
Appeal is one thing, but whether or not customers would consider buying the product is arguably more important. In the Cox Automotive Study, 45 percent of respondents said they would consider the electric Ford F-150 as their next pickup truck. When looking at customers only interested in EVs, this number skyrocketed to 75 percent. The Tesla Cybertruck placed second in the overall consideration category with 32 percent of the vote. Surprisingly, the company only received 48 percent of consideration from EV-exclusive customers. GMC received 28 percent of the consideration vote, while Rivian got 25 percent, respectively.
The study found that the styling of the Tesla Cybertruck hurt its popularity throughout the contest. Then again, Tesla’s rumored redesign of the pickup suggests they already are aware of this issue. Furthermore, the study noted that price, performance, design, and size mattered most to EV truck buyers. At the end of the day however, the Ford F-150 is the king of all pickups in the United States. That likely won’t change as electric trucks become the norm.
