Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

In my day, never was longer.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Republicans in disarray!

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

… gradually, and then suddenly.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

In after Baud. Damn.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

How stupid are these people?

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Late Night Respite Open Thread: The Cybertruck Release Has Some Inadvertent News Luck

Late Night Respite Open Thread: The Cybertruck Release Has Some Inadvertent News Luck

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With a little luck, all the top-tier HATERZ on social media are gonna be so busy discussing Henry Kissinger that the inevitable ‘beta release’ glitches will slip under the news radar for a few precious days…

In fairness, I did run across one article (sorta) praising the cybertruck — NYMag‘s business columnist says “Tesla’s Cybertruck Is Striking — and Poorly Timed”:

In the spirit of disclosure, I’m going to admit that I think driving a Tesla Cybertruck would absolutely rule. It’s a fast, weird fantasy car — the kind of concept that usually doesn’t make its way off the Javits Center showroom floor and onto the road. Yes, it looks like something out of a 1980s Ridley Scott movie and it’s made by Elon Musk, but at least you can tell it apart from every other passenger vehicle. Part of what makes it fun is how ostentatious the thing is. It’s the opposite of the anonymous wealth signifiers preferred by the Succession class and the tech titans who control our lives. (Parking it, though, would be a nightmare.) On Thursday, Tesla will start to deliver Cybertrucks after four years of delays and production snafus. As much as I want to own or even just drive one, it’s difficult to imagine a worse environment for introducing a new electric vehicle that is the result of four years and billions of dollars of development. No matter how many people secretly covet a Cybertruck, it faces a very rocky road. As anyone who has seen a certain viral video knows, Musk and Tesla investors may find themselves stranded by the Cybertruck.

… Maybe the disappointing levels of buyer interest have something to do with the fact that lithium-ion batteries are susceptible to exploding. Or people are just holding on to the cars they already have for longer. Or there’s nowhere to charge them. But the biggest problem is price: Electric vehicles start at around $27,000, and that’s for a car that goes about 250 miles on a single charge. But most electric vehicles cost around twice as much, with top-of-the-line luxury versions reaching around $100,000. These are lifestyle vehicles for a small segment of the population, the wealthy who want to seem as though they’re not like the other one-percenters in that they actually care about the environment. Have you seen a Rivian? It’s practically an REI store on wheels, complete with the insane pricing. But even with six-figure price tags, Rivian still can’t figure out how to make money. Factor in auto loans now having rates upwards of 5.5 percent. Even Musk has been publicly fretting about how much interest rates are eating into his sales.

The other problem for Tesla is that, for the first time, it is delivering a new product when it doesn’t have a majority of the market to itself. Tesla first announced the truck in 2019, when it got more than 250,000 preorders at $100 each, in the first few days. But because of problems with the production and design — which created “high head-toss acceleration” and “structural shake,” according to leaked internal files — Tesla has been pushing back deliveries ever since…

And then there’s the actual production. Earlier this month, late prototypes seen in the wild looked like a puzzle that wasn’t put together correctly: There were gaps between the panels that appeared far larger than the “sub 10 micron” accuracy level decreed by Musk. The blind spot was wide, and rear visibility was poor. In isolation, these might be forgivable, especially considering this was still a prototype. But taken together, the car seemed unfinished. Even putting a black wrapping on it didn’t appear to win many converts…

But, but… so fun!


[R.A. Lafferty quote: Tongue so firmly in cheek as to protrude from the vulgar bodily orifice.]

“At least nobody will ask you to help them move… “
Late Night Respite Open Thread: The Cybertruck Release Has Some Inadvertent News Luck
Late Night Respite Open Thread: The Cybertruck Release Has Some Inadvertent News Luck 1

Reader Interactions

94Comments

  2. 2.

    piratedan

    Now that Trump has called for the destruction of MSNBC, I’m sure that Fox News and the rest of the media will rally to their defense, like they did when Fox News reporters were frozen out of asking questions (in completely expected bad faith narratives) in press conferences….

    right?

  3. 3.

    opiejeanne

    I got an email today inviting me to a cybertruck Tesla livestream event in a nearby town. I’m not sure where they got my email or why they think I’m in their target demographic. I have a 2003 Ford pickup with 35,000 miles on it, and it works just fine. It’s Crayola yellow so it’s easy to find in a parking lot.

  4. 4.

    Hkedi [Kang T.Q.]

    Alas we don’t get the modern Howard Hughes we want, we get the modern Howard Hughes we deserve…

    We haven’t been good for a while have we?

  5. 5.

    Martin

    Saw one of those with the RC moniker and Texas plates in a parking lot near me the other day. (it might even be the exact vehicle in Cole’s post) I don’t know if it’s representative of all of them, but the body panels being flat means that every variation catches the light and stands out from the right angle, as I saw this one, and it looked like it had been in an accident and not repaired.

    I don’t have a problem with that – I think we invest way too much money into turning cars into jewelry – but I’m VERY outlier on that. I think the people this is designed to appeal to are not going to like it in person.

  6. 6.

    danielx

    @Martin: ​
     

    I think the people this is designed to appeal to are not going to like it in person.

    I’m still trying to figure out who those people are.

  8. 8.

    mrmoshpotato

    @opiejeanne:

    I have a 2003 Ford pickup with 35,000 miles on it, and it works just fine. It’s Crayola yellow so it’s easy to find in a parking lot. 

    That just begs for a Jurassic Park paint job. 🦖

  9. 9.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    You just know that someone with lots of money and little intelligence will pay to have the stainless on their Elontruk buffed and polished to a beautiful mirror finish. That flat expanse of glass that acts as the windshield is going to reflect the sun in very annoying ways, possibly accident causing ways.

    The thing looks like something a child would draw as their idea of a cool truck. Heck, the bed is about as large as a child’s toy box…lol! You can’t fit a bike back there but a trike? No prob!

  10. 10.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @danielx: Techbros. People who think like Elmo (who are much more numerous in Elmo’s mind than in the wilds of the Real World).

    I’ll admit to a weakness for a nice sharp-angled car design – I’m a sucker for Giorgetto Giugiaro’s designs, especially from the “paper-airplane” period, like the Lotus Esprit, the BMW M1, the first generation VW Scirocco,  and the DeLorean – but the Cybertruck doesn’t have that sort of elegant simplicity of the better Giugiaro designs. Well, simple, yes, but elegant, not so much.

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    While on the subject of trucks, <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/CXbwC8MF"took a pic of my snappy little hybrid Maverick waiting at the dealership for an oil change where it happened to be parked alongside a full-size Ford pick-up. Note the lip of the latter’s tailgate practically even in height with the Mav’s roof line.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    Fix for my bleary-eyed screw-up on #11.

    While on the subject of trucks, took a pic of my snappy little hybrid Maverick waiting at the dealership for an oil change where it happened to be parked alongside a full-size Ford pick-up. Note the lip of the latter’s tailgate practically even in height with the Mav’s roof line.

  14. 14.

    Martin

    @NotMax: Driving home Sat was just miserable because every pickup on the road is so goddamn big that you have no forward visibility if you’re in a normal sized car, so there’s no way to tell how urgently you need to brake because you can’t see anything but the truck in front of you. And then these guys roll up right on your back bumper with their headlights straight through the back window. The big SUVs aren’t quite as bad.

    Really just about snapped on that trip.

  16. 16.

    Martin

    @NotMax: As a primary cyclist, I’m well aware. But I pretty much only drive when we go see my son, and most of our trips the traffic isn’t too bad so I didn’t really notice the effect of the trucks until this trip when we had traffic all the way from Los Banos to OC.

  19. 19.

    prostratedragon

    @NotMax:  Yep. My least favorite Citroen, but still miles of miles better than the cyberthing. What’s with the sharp angles? Aren’t those wear points?

  21. 21.

    Frankensteinbeck

    The cyber wrap does help a lot.  It removes the ‘cheap special effects model’ part of the look, and brings it more into the ‘toy car’ zone.

    I like the aesthetic the cybertruck is trying for.  It’s just not achieving it.  The steel panels look like foil-covered cardboard.  It looks… well, cheap, like a model from a bad 70s sci-fi movie.

    I’m also expecting some godawful bad surprise on the release.  Musk demands things be put out before they’re ready, like the show where he claimed the windows were indestructible, then hit them with a sledgehammer and they shattered.

    Also still more amused by his bizarre appearance on that NYT sponsored show where he swore at advertisers and said ‘Earth’ would judge them.  He really is losing what sanity he had.

  24. 24.

    Frankensteinbeck

    …come to think about it, the Twitter advertisers meltdown says everything about why Musk does the things he does.  This is a man who loses his shit with rage if you tell him ‘no’.  His employees are never, ever going to tell him when reality doesn’t match his fantasies.

  25. 25.

    WereBear

    Our whole world is built on images now. Not reality.

    It’s not just the MAGA cult. Everyone has the risk of getting mired in delusions, because there are so many competing for engagement.

    I see this as a kind of corporate obsession, like the way one of our streaming services plays with the controls. Now we have to tell them what we think before we get to the show we clicked on. Commericials which don’t respond to the remote. All these extra layers we negotiate to give them mites of metrics.

    It’s also the reason I call a corporate 800 number and it is an hour until I get the simple information that was hidden on the website. And this information, while fresh, won’t last, because next time they will hide everything I need so I have to call the 800 number? Which is hard to find.

    In a world where no one writes an instruction manual anymore. I’m expected to go on Youtube and find a kind soul who will tell me.

  27. 27.

    gene108

    @NotMax:

    I parked next to new pickup truck. I can’t remember the brand off-hand, but I think it was a Dodge Ram. Anyway, I’m 5’7” tall and the hood line was almost my height.

    I drive a VW. When my car was at the dealership for repairs, I got a VW Atlas as a loaner. The Atlas is a large SUV with three rows of seating. The driving position was elevated compared to a car, and seeing things in front of the vehicle was a lot more difficult.

    I think the companies making these overly large pickup trucks and SUV’s are going to cause many many serious traffic accidents with their bloated vehicles having fenders higher than some cars hoods.

  28. 28.

    WereBear

    @gene108: It’s because we are currently in a business environment where selling it is the only priority.

    The past few years has been a nightmare of products that don’t work. No one is doing quality control. They create and dissolve a marketing name because they don’t want “a reputation.” They will just create a new shell corporation, sell out to the walls, and start over with another one.

    So you can’t even buy quality if you WANT to. Where is it?

  30. 30.

    WereBear

    @Martin: I see a big pickup in my rearview on a mountain road and I’ll pull over at a hiking trailhead to let them go by.

    Or they will be roaring on my bumper the entire way. Because they won’t get as hurt in the accident they will cause.

  31. 31.

    Brachiator

    In the spirit of disclosure, I’m going to admit that I think driving a Tesla Cybertruck would absolutely rule. It’s a fast, weird fantasy car — the kind of concept that usually doesn’t make its way off the Javits Center showroom floor and onto the road. Yes, it looks like something out of a 1980s Ridley Scott movie and it’s made by Elon Musk, but at least you can tell it apart from every other passenger vehicle. Part of what makes it fun is how ostentatious the thing is.

    Ugh. This is some stupid Musk fan boy prattle. I will be curious to see if there are any honest reviews of people actually driving this thing.

  32. 32.

    raven

    I had a hydraulic clutch put in my 66 Chevy Truck a couple of months ago and now it’s in the shop getting disc brakes in the front and new drums in the back

     

    In Georgia, the answer to whether or not emissions testing is required is a bit nuanced. While the state itself does not mandate annual emissions testing, there are 13 counties in the Atlanta metro area where emissions inspections are required yearly.

  33. 33.

    MagdaInBlack

    It is just painful to watch that “truck” struggle to climb that wee hill. I’m looking forward to showing that to the gearheads at work. There will be much laughter.

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven:My plates are up for renewal. Hoping everything passes the inspection, especially since I am going to need new tires soon.​
    @MagdaInBlack: ​ The person driving it is afraid to nick something. One does not drive up a hill with so much caution. Least of all one that small.

  35. 35.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: Strangely, we don’t have inspection requirements here! I have “Smithy” glass pack mufflers and blue dot taillights and I’d get dinged for that if we did!

  37. 37.

    JWR

    @eclare:

    I like the idea of sticking refrigerator magnets to it.

    Me too, but alas, it’s built using non-magnetic 303 stainless.

    But those wraps! Is that Elno’s fat head in that particular style of Elno kitchen cupboard contact paper and truck wrap? Bet he’s got that stuff at home.

  39. 39.

    Rusty

    @NotMax: As tall as that F-150 is, it’s sitting on the base version standard steel wheels.  Those are the smallest tires and wheels , almost every truck is sold with bigger ones so the truck sits higher.  Add factory or aftermarket lift kits and the things are practically skyscrapers.   It’s insane for vehicles that most people will never take off road.  You recognize how far these have moved from their intended purposes when you realize that manufacturers used to advertise low lift over height to load the bed.  That was when trucks were used as, well used as trucks.  Those days are gone.

  41. 41.

    JWR

    @raven:

    Ooo, Smithy’s! One of my uncles had Glasspacks on a black, ’57 Ford Ranchero. I lurved the sound of that thing as it gurgled and popped like nobody’s business.

  42. 42.

    JWR

    @raven: Good for keeping your head from going straight through the windshield. ;)

    Good Lord! I remember steel dashboards. What were they thinking?

  44. 44.

    Gvg

    @piratedan: I dunno if that will be necessary to take seriously, because Fox really should be destroyed and msnbc is just sometimes wrong and it’s not going to happen even if a small percent of his most show off fanatics may talk it up. It will be forgotten soon because his cult attacks so many things no one keeps track of them all. Not one of the permanent attack cookies other than general liberal media.

    if his cult really got their way they’d ban everything except their own toadie media, which would have constant churn of whose ok or not and no credibility in short order even among those who originally believed. This in fact is why the who media including fox were stupid not to have been pushing back harder against him from the begging which IMO was pre Trump and Bush II with the media corrals.  But Trump really said it, quite clearly, so no one had to guess. Although his terrible grammar and sentence structure does make for some obscurity I admit.

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MagdaInBlack: One time K, me, and 2 other guys went in search of a cave. Got directions from another fellow caver, who closed with “But you can’t get there from here.” meaning we’d have some hiking to do, and off we went.

    I told my K, “Tim says you can’t get there from here and I’ve got $10 in my pocket that says he’s right.”

    6 hrs and $5K in damage later we returned to camp never having found the cave. I gave him the $10 anyway.

    For some reason or other his wife won’t let me go anywhere with him by ourselves. It’s a mystery.

  47. 47.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Rusty: That was when trucks were used as, well used as trucks

    I’ve got a Dodge 1/2 ton 4×4 p/u and it is used for hauling and the increasingly rare offroad jaunt. I last had the oil changed in February and since then have put 5,300 miles on it. Why yes, I do drive my wife’s car a lot, why do you ask?

    It’s insane for vehicles that most people will never take off road.

    Because they might scratch the paint, and they need to look macho for the girls.

  48. 48.

    raven

    @JWR: I also had shoulder belts installed after driving it with NO belts for 40 years! The steering column will go right through your chest in a head-on!

  49. 49.

    Nukular Biskits

    We’re headed to a future with EVs being the predominant, if not only, option for personal/private transportation.  And I would love to buy a Chevy Bolt for my daily commute between home and work (at least when I’m not on travel), not just for the environmental benefits but for the lesser need for maintenance.  ICEs are nasty, messy things with lotsa moving parts.  And I’m sure there is some law that says this, but the more parts in an assembly, the more chance there is for something to break.

    Having said that, though, an EV pickup is something that still requires a lot of work … and “Cybertruck” isn’t a pickup, no matter what Musk says.  While a lot of Murkans purchase/own a truck to move nothing more than their own butts from Point A to Point B, trucks are designed/manufactured/sold to haul and move cargo.  Pulling a boat, for example, requires a ton of torque and power, far more than just moving human butts around.  The range on the current crop of REAL EV pickups is severely cut when you use them for anything but people transportation.

    I can’t wait for the day I can replace my 2002 F150 Supercrew with a EV truck … but they’re just not there yet.

  50. 50.

    MagdaInBlack

    @OzarkHillbilly: There are some very old roads ( cow paths) that follow the Illinois Fox River from Norway to Wedron ( both itty spots on the map.) It was great fun to take the trucks down those roads…..until we got to the top of a hill, my husband looked down the hill at the cowpath called a road and swore at me ” wtf have you gotten me in to ??”  (we made it)

    I was generally the one instigating the situation.

  52. 52.

    Nukular Biskits

    @NotMax:

    While on the subject of trucks, <a href=”https://thumbsnap.com/CXbwC8MF“took a pic of my snappy little hybrid Maverick waiting at the dealership for an oil change where it happened to be parked alongside a full-size Ford pick-up. Note the lip of the latter’s tailgate practically even in height with the Mav’s roof line.

    That is probably my major pet peeve about newer full-size light-duty trucks:  Height.

    The newer ones (and I’m not even talking about the 4x4s) are so damned high, you almost need a ladder to put anything in/get anything out of the bed.  And you’ll DEFINITELY need a ladder if you install a rack to haul stuff, like a kayak.

  53. 53.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @NotMax: I’ll bet Elmo got the idea for the cybertruck body from the Citreon. Citreons and Peugeots were brands seen in South Africa when he was growing up. The problem is Citreon is the only car that can pull off that turtle design.

  54. 54.

    p.a.

    I know a few people with $80k-ish trucks, but not at all close relationships.  I wish I knew one better so I could ask them to borrow it in spring to pick up some manure.

  56. 56.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JWR: ​ I couldn’t wait to get the glass packs off my latest truck. Too painful for my poor, much abused ears.

  57. 57.

    Gvg

    @raven: Gardening is why I had a truck and why I am thinking of going back to one. Also looking for antique furniture. But I still like a car drive and gas milage. Wish EV’s tended more affordable. Just found out about ford maverick which is sized more like my old ranger. It has a unibody. People say that means it’s not a real truck but for my purposes I don’t think it would matter. I don’t tow anything. Not sure about loads of compost weight. Turning radius makes a big difference in how drivable it is in tight city parking and such.  The ranger was significantly better than other trucks I looked at at that time.

    I never wanted a truck for off road. Writers who go on about that, completely miss a whole lot of practical people. In Floridas sandy soil, off road means stuck if it’s been too dry, and there isn’t much around here anyway, unless you own a ranch. Trucks are for hauling stuff and any do it yourselfer or hobbyist does that. The hobby’s are all kinds of things, not just outdoorsy things.

    cyber truck doesn’t fit, unless maybe…radio control models with lots of money. You could fit a model battleship in the back to take to a meet I guess. But I wouldn’t get compost in it and I don’t think a fisherman or home improvement person would like it.

  58. 58.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @p.a.: my sister was driving around in a lot car shopping and saw a gmc truck in the used vehicle part of the lot. It was the base one not some huge tricked out dually. Anyhow, she thought it looked nice and being that it was used, assumed it would be reasonably priced….looks up the price on their website…$57K! Who buys these trucks?

  59. 59.

    JWR

    @raven:

    The steering column will go right through your chest in a head-on!

    And that’s gonna leave a mark! Also, I hate it when that happens. ;) That reminds me. Sometime in the 1980’s there was a picture in the L.A. Times of a guy in France or Italy who’d had a nasty smash up, and he had one of those wooden guard rail things straight through his upper body. And he was conscious! One of those images that’s never left me.

  60. 60.

    Nukular Biskits

    @p.a.:

    I know a few people with $80k-ish trucks, but not at all close relationships.  I wish I knew one better so I could ask them to borrow it in spring to pick up some manure.

    A few years ago, I had my F150 in the shop at the dealer for a rear-axle rebuild (thanks to years of pulling loads FAR heavier than recommended by the manufacturer).  While waiting to pick it up, I perused the new models on the lot.  My gast was flabbered.

    I paid $20K for my 2002 F150 XLT SuperCrew with the 5.4L engine in 2002.  No major options, other than the towing package.  Comparably-equipped F150 XLTs now run well north of $45K, a price I refuse to pay.

    $80K for a truck is ridiculous.

  61. 61.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Mai Naem mobile: My corporations middle and upper management. ALL the market managers have useless big ass chromed up lifted manly trucks. In the Chicago suburbs. To go to meetings and drive from shop to shop.

  62. 62.

    Geminid

    @Nukular Biskits: I thought Tesla missed a good opportunity when they rolled out their Model 3. If they had followed with a cut-down version with a bed and and a stout, optional rack that could carry a few 2×6s, or a canoe or two kayaks, they might have sold a bunch. There’s been a real need for a small truck of any type, and an electric two seater would have met it.

  64. 64.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Geminid:

    There’s been a real need for a small truck of any type, and an electric two seater would have met it.

    Agreed.

    Prior to my F150, I had a 1995 Ford Ranger with a 4-banger & 5-speed manual.  For basic stuff like hauling the kids’ bikes, hauling stuff from hardware store or pulling my little 5×8 utility trailer, it met all my needs.

    Tesla would have done well to recreate electric versions of the old Chevy LUV, Ford Courier or even the Dodge Rampage (remember those)?

    If Ford would put some effort into coming out with an electric version of the Maverick (a name I still can’t associate with a Ford truck), I’d seriously consider it.

  65. 65.

    Ken

    @Geminid: an electric two seater would have met it.

    Is the Cybertruck a four-seater, then?  The extended cab says yes, but the slope of the rear half says no, unless the two in the back seat are children.

    I probably should just watch some of the ads to see how many people they show getting out. But if it’s like an F-150 ad with four big guys getting out* I’m calling foul.

    * Those ads seemed to have an inordinate fascination with the models’ work boots hitting the ground.

  66. 66.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Geminid: Are you talking about something on the order of the old Chevy El Camino, or maybe the VW Rabbit-based pickup? (I also recall Dodge made something called the Rampage, based on the coupe version of the old Omni, for a few years back in the early 80’s.)

    Great if you’re looking for something utilitarian, but if you want a status symbol, not so much, maybe. And let’s face it, the Cybertruck’s more a status symbol than a useful vehicle as far as I can see.

  67. 67.

    eclare

    @Nukular Biskits:

    My dad had a GMC Sonoma, I think.  Small, two seater pick up.  It was all he needed for the trip to Lowe’s to get what he needed or what mom needed for the garden.

  68. 68.

    Geminid

    @Nukular Biskits: A Hawaii Jackal bought a hybrid Maverick a few months ago and really likes it. I think Maverick orders are backed up now.

    Ed. There may be other small electric or hybrid trucks in the pipeline. Vehicles you can carry a kayak on, or use to carry home 4 or 5 bags of mulch and some plants. Or groceries, or just ride in to and from a job or on a trip.

  69. 69.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Ken:

    In my book, the rear part of the cab in extended cabs is for children or stuff, not adults.  That’s why I bought a truck with a true 4-door cab:  my two sons were growing like the proverbial weeds and I knew both were going to be taller than me.

    One other thing to commend an extended-cab truck (in addition to carrying stuff inside) is that you generally can move the driver’s seat further back than you can in a standard-cab truck.

  70. 70.

    JWR

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Too painful for my poor, much abused ears.

    I’ve always wondered about that, what they [ETA those mufflers] do to ones ears. Especially with my cousin, who has straight pipes on one of his Harleys. Bap bap bap pop pop bap pop bap, and etc.

  71. 71.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:

    And let’s face it, the Cybertruck’s more a status symbol than a useful vehicle as far as I can see.

    I’m not sure what status would be conveyed by owning/driving a Cybertruck beyond “I’m an Elon fanboi stupid enough to buy this thing.”

  73. 73.

    Nukular Biskits

    @eclare:

    One of my neighbors is driving a late-model F250 King Ranch 4×4.  I’ve never seen him haul anything in it other than an ice chest or pull anything with it.

    As far as I know, it’s his daily commuter.  But, being part-owner in a family business, I wouldn’t be surprised it is somehow related to a business tax write-off.

  75. 75.

    Geminid

    @Nukular Biskits: The Jackal with the Maverick is NotMax; he’d probably like to answer questions about the truck. Besides his experience as an Maverick owner, I believe NotMax has some background in the industry

  76. 76.

    Kay

    Tesla has sued the Swedish Transport Agency after postal workers stopped delivering licence plates connected to the electric car company.
    The move is intended to support a strike by Tesla metal workers in the country.
    The IF Metall union is fighting the US carmaker for a collective bargaining agreement, which is standard in Sweden.
    Tesla boss, billionaire Elon Musk, said last week the potential impact of the stand-off was “insane”.
    About 130 staff at Tesla’s Swedish repair shops have been on strike since 27 October, demanding an agreement to guarantee “good wages, good pensions and good insurance for staff”, according to IF Metall.
    Eight other unions have since announced their own actions targeting Tesla in sympathy with the repair workers.
    The postal workers’ Swedish Union for Service and Communications Employees (Seko) started its “blockade” on 20 November. Dockworkers also recently stopped unloading Tesla cars.
    Tesla’s lawsuit, filed in district court on Monday, accuses the Transport Agency, part of the Swedish government, of unfairly targeting Tesla by not fulfilling the deliveries of the registration plates, according to reports.
    It demanded access to the plates – a request that the court granted in a preliminary ruling, according to Swedish media.

    Musk is going to lose. The last company who tried this, Toys R Us, eventually lost because Sweden isn’t going to change their entire workplace regulatory system and national culture to accomodate a spoiled, petulant moron.

  79. 79.

    Quiltingfool

    We bought a used 2003 Ford diesel pickup last year and it has needed some maintenance work (former owners only drove it to pull a recreational trailer).  Anyway, went to pick it up at the garage and pay the ransom…as hubby was talking to the garage owner, I was looking around and spied a very old pickup – a Chevy Apache.  Just the body, don’t think it had an engine.  Most old trucks look the same to me, but this body style was a bit different.  I asked the garage guy the year of the truck – 1958!  The year of my birth!  Huh!

    If I had oodles of money to burn, I would gussy that truck up and drive it!  And no, I don’t want the rat rod look, I want shiny and pretty with nice seats.  And no, I don’t want an enormous engine either…I’m a grandma driver, don’t need to go fast, lol!

    I like pickups.  I had a 94 Ford F150, manual transmission, straight 6 engine and I loved it.  Clean lines, simple interior, no bells or whistles.   However, gas mileage not so great as compared to my Equinox.  My truck driving days are over, I guess…unless I won the lottery and could get that 1958 Chevy Apache!

  80. 80.

    Scout211

    This may be a dead thread but I saw this a few days ago.

    Did you know that Tesla originally required new owners to pay $50,000 if they sold their Cybertruck in the first year of ownership?  As the media started to be aware of this and started reporting it, Tesla suddenly reversed that rule.  And now it may be a sign that sales expectations are not what they had hoped.

    Tesla’s rescinded $50,000 resale fee is the latest sign the Cybertruck won’t hit the market in large numbers anytime soon.

    Tesla spooked some investors and Cybertruck order holders on Monday with an unusual clause in their terms and conditions that made resale in the first year punishable with a $50,000 lawsuit.

    By Tuesday morning, the clause had vanished from the Cybertruck sales agreement. Experts say the initial inclusion of those resale restrictions is a sign that Tesla’s long-awaited truck launch might not be a high-volume play by Elon Musk.

    These restrictions are rare, but they’re most commonly used on limited-production vehicles, Stephen Beck, founder and managing partner of consultancy cg42, told Business Insider.

  81. 81.

    Miss Bianca

    @Frankensteinbeck: I’ve been reading the latest in the Wolf Hall series and it’s amazing to me how much that description of Musk makes him sound like Henry VIII.

    (At least Henry listened to *some* of his advisors. Until he had them killed.)

  82. 82.

    fancycwabs

    1. There’s a least a small possibility that you can’t stick fridge magnets on a cybertruck, because stainless steel.
    2.  I was told that a cybertruck would also be a boat? When is Elon going to drive one into the sea to prove it?
  84. 84.

    NotMax

    Inadvertently put in upstairs thread.

    Given the competition, an EPA-estimated range of around 300 miles is okay for the Cybertruck however, if you’re towing or carrying anything, this range quickly gets cut in half giving you a range of around 150 miles.

    At this point, the Cybertruck becomes unacceptable for anyone planning to go on trips and tow anything heavy. Especially given the fact that there aren’t currently a lot of pull-through superchargers which means every 150 miles you have to hook and unhook your trailer in order to be able to charge. Source

  89. 89.

    JaneE

    I am thinking the sun glare off that thing would blind both the driver and the other traffic around them.

  90. 90.

    steverinoCT

    @OzarkHillbilly: Because they might scratch the paint, and they need to look macho for the girls.

    I am amused by the guys who go mudding, and leave the truck covered in dirt to prove they do too take it off the street.

  91. 91.

    Ruckus

    @mrmoshpotato:

    That should be FUGLY.

    It looks like a 5 yr old designed it – while having a nightmare. Oh wait….

    On second thought not FUGLY, let’s be honest and spell it out that pos is DOWNRIGHT FUCKING UGLY. And that’s besides being mostly just downright useless.

  92. 92.

    Hoodie

    What a ridiculous piece of crap.  A waste of years of development when all the other Tesla models are getting outdated.  For example, he could have developed a useful van or small truck using the existing platforms.  Shows that Elmo has given up on doing anything more to advance EVs.  It’s all just public masturbation now, like he does with Twitter.

  93. 93.

    Ruckus

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    That flat expanse of glass that acts as the windshield is going to reflect the sun in very annoying ways, possibly accident causing ways.

    It also is going to be absolutely, stunningly hot driving that thing in the mid day sun with such a big, flat, piece of glass in front of all of you and that the sun will shine through so elegantly.

  94. 94.

    Rebel's Dad

    The target demographic must be people who want a truck but don’t want friends and family to constantly beg them to help them move.

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