The Tesla Cybertruck generated a ton of hype (and hundreds of thousands of pre-orders) when it debuted last November, but we haven’t heard too much more about the American electric vehicle maker’s first pickup truck since its unveiling.
Tesla recently provided some additional intel on the truck, though, after company CEO Elon Musk hopped on Twitter to shed some more light on its suspension last Friday. The outspoken investor and entrepreneur said the truck will have an active suspension system that will be able to adjust itself to provide a balance between suspension stiffness, which is required for high towing and payload ratings, and ride comfort.
“Active ride height & active damping are game-changing for a truck or any car with a high max/min weight ratio,” Musk tweeted.
This isn’t unheard of for pickup trucks. The current Ram 1500 has a height-adjustable four-corner air suspension system that serves as a similar purpose. While not an air suspension system, the GMC Sierra 1500 Denali’s Magnetic Ride Control can also adjust damper firmness on-the-fly, adapting to road conditions to provide a more comfortable ride.
Tesla claims the Cybertruck will have a payload rating of 3,500 lbs across the board. The base, single motor model will also have a maximum towing capacity of 7,500 lbs, while the dual-motor version, which will likely be the most popular model, will be able to tow up to 10,000 lbs. It claims the range-topping tri-motor model will be able to tow up to 14,000 lbs, as well.
GM recently rolled out its Air Ride Adaptive Suspension system on its new line of full-size SUVs, including the 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, which can adjust the height of the vehicle to better suit the driving situation. The air ride system is paired with Magnetic Ride Control to offer the driver both damping and ride height control. We expect this two-part suspension system to trickle elsewhere throughout the GM portfolio, though it is exclusive to the full-size SUVs for now.
2021 Chevrolet Tahoe Z71 with Air Ride Adaptive suspension
The Tesla Cybertruck should arrive in mid-to-late 2021 around the same time as the GMC Hummer EV. The first electric pickup truck to market will likely be the Rivian R1T, though Lordstown Motors is planning to have its Endurance pickup in production before the end of the year, beating Rivian to market.
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Comments
I’m not going to bash this thing, but I do have a few questions. First, what possible purpose could there be to make this thing so ugly? Is there anyone out there who actually thinks this is cool or nice looking? I don’t hate Tesla, but I’m not a huge fan either. The Model 3 and Model S (all stupid names) don’t look bad at all. The Model X is certainly not something I’d ever buy even if I did have that kind of money. It’s not nearly as bad as this “truck”, but the X isn’t very nice looking either. Then top it off with those ridiculous rear gulwing doors, and the Model X would never have a place in my garage.
Does anyone have a real idea what Tesla is trying to do here? Is Musk just trying to shock the industry?
Dan, I think your last question is it. Trying to shock the industry.
Agreed. I can’t figure out any other reason for such a thing. I know “style” and “beauty” are all in the eye of the beholder, but……
It looks the way it does to save on production cost. Building a vehicle with those kinds of lines will drastically reduce the cost of shaping the parts.
Search youtube for “Deconstructing The Tooling Cost on Tesla’s Cybertruck” to hear the autoline episode about it.
Dear Dan Clueless,
Go read about this truck if you’re going to be offering your opinions, which none of us want from you anyway. Obviously you have not done so or you would know WHY this truck looks not unlike your daughter.
Speaking of unwanted opinions…say nothing of irrelevant and stupid ones. Geez, lose your keys this morning or something?
@Grimveous: I will save my “opinion” of you for a site better suited for you. But I will say this: you have crossed a line and you should be banned from this site.
“Is there anyone out there who actually thinks this is cool or nice looking?”
Yes. Many of us. Especially those of us that grew up watching Doc Brown and Marty McFly get the coupe equivalent of this thing up to 88 mph.
It’s a retro thing.
This is straight from the mid- 70’s, early 80’s sketchbook.
I used to draw cars with a ruler and aspirin lids for the wheels (circle) when I was a kid. All straight lines and severe angles.
Apparently, with all the deposits (although $100 bucks is not really hi-risk) It seems to be attracting a lot of attention.
Personally, because it brings back childhood memories, I’m digging the awkwardness and just how different it is from our current crop of mainstream truck options.
Having said that, I would not spend my hard earned money on this “straight edge” EV thingy!
And, I’m not convinced the shape will change that much on the production model.
This thing is so severe, there is no way it make sense to fool the people interested in this, and then water it down to a more “normal” design.
But with Musk…Who knows what to expect?
No disrespect to Muskateers or the Teslarati…but I hope the Hummer EV blows this stainless steel doorstop on wheels out of the sky.
Elon is just toying with the entire industry with this thing. He can sit and laugh watching companies like Nissan with the Leaf, Chevy with the Bolt and Porsche with the Taycan try to put up a decent fight for his lineup of EVs, but in reality no one ever gets close, at least in terms of sales and range; he just bats them away like its nothing as they start spinning their tires. I’m not faulting him at all, he’s playing the market like a pro – I’m just saying he needs some real competition, for God’s sake. Trucks are the way to find a chink in his armor.
Rivian has his attention, and may be the first ones to do so. I’m hoping the Hummer lands a big blow just to get him to stagger back a bit. Someone needs to challenge this guy! Why not GM? It would finally force the press to give them some positive coverage, while ending the same media’s constant fawning over Tesla.
G8Burnout……you had my thumbs up at Muskateers…..lol.
Haha, I wish I could take credit for it.
I hear you, but it’s not going to happen. Musk / Tesla have millions of fans that will buy anything they make. Hummer / GM not so much.
@G8Burnout
While I am a Tesla and Elon fan as everyone here knows, I too want more Auto Makers (GM Specifically) to come out with EV’s that will be on Par with Tesla vehicles. I have been stating here for years that Tesla has basically become the Apple Brand of the Auto Market and now everyone else is fighting for the coveted Google Second Place. So obviously I hope that will be GM and not say VW.
If you study the market it is almost insane just how much more advanced Tesla vehicles are right now. There was a report that Auto Makers are privately admitting they are anywhere from three to five years behind in terms of Software.
Please GM go All Out with the Hummer EV Truck. I know it will be much pricier that the Cybertruck but at least match the level of performance or else it will be another Dud.
But I feel this time around GM is taking EV’s extremely seriously and we all will be pleasantly surprised.
You can shock and get attention with a well designed unit and also sell more product than you can imagine.
There is no excuse for the styling here. This thing is nothing but a styling joke worse than the Aztec.
The only reason people are attracted to it is the cult of Tesla followers. They are to the point you put wheels on a turd and they would buy it.
In the past Tesla styling was not anything special but it was not offensive. Well it is special now but not for the right reasons. Imagine if Chevy for Ford had produced this design? The media would have pounded them. Just look at the SSR truck styling. It was different but still not to the point of over the top. Yet it is still trashed.
I had expected that they would do a swap to a more conventional body at some point making this first styling just a ploy for attention. But I suspect that is not the case anymore. Musk is the PT Barnum of today and knows how to generate media from nothing. We have seen it time and time again . People keep getting sucked in on these deals even after seeing what he is doing previously in his stunts.
Right now he needs a new S model that is fresh and updated to help bring in the cash flow to get new product out on time. The S paid the bills much better than any product he has had.
Other than fan boys no one with any modicum of taste will buy this thing. They would be too embarrassed pulling up in this thing.
Half a million per-orders though. I realize they won’t all buy one, but 500,000 people went through the effort to sign up for one.
$100 refundable deposits are a pretty meek commitment. I bet most of them vaporize…
Even if most of them do vaporize, Musk got himself a $50 million interest free loan.
@bubbaq
Get used to seeing these Trucks everywhere. Like I told everyone here when it was revealed I will tell you all again, this will sell like Hotcakes. Over 550,000 Pre_orders already in just a couple of months. Tesla might need to build a Factory just for Cybertrucks Lol
Flat panels and straight lines. I have heard some estimate that if the true body it is to keep stamping/tooling costs down.
Why would anyone down vote this?
This site cracks me up sometimes.
I believe I read that they can’t stamp that thickness/grade of stainless, so basically everything is going to be done on a press brake. Which is about as cheap as it gets for tooling. Every joe blow steel house has that already. Tolerances aren’t as good but quality has never been a huge focus for Tesla. I’ve also never seen a fully automated press brake usually they are pretty manual, I’m sure you could do one bend automated but it would get messy for the second and on
I completely understand that some do not like the looks of the Cybertruck. I get it.
To me, a non Truck Customer it looks freaking sweet. Like a Fighter plane.
Tesla must know what they were doing as they have over 550,000 pre-Orders already. They had to take the Cybertruck off their website as they know they cannot keep taking orders. I get it that for the Big Three 550,000 Orders is child’s Play but for Tesla that is huge. I am dying to see if the GM and Ford EV Trucks come with any of the standard features the cybertruck will have. And lets not forget that the Base Price is $39,000 which is insane. Even more insane is that only 17% of the Pre-Orders are for the base Model.
Couple points from your post: Other than for the shock and awe, there is zero reason for that style. Some others above made very good points about that, such as the Chevy SSR. Second, they can take as many pre-orders as they want. How many will actually end up taking one? In most states, the law says a deposit can’t be kept anyhow, so that’s not a big deal. Lastly, $39,000? Maybe they are attempting to say that will be the “base” price, but you will never see one. When GM is losing money on the Bolt at an average MSRP about the same, are you telling me Tesla is going to sell any at that price? Most likely would be losing 15-20 grand per unit at that rate.
Well if the Model 3 Pre Orders were any indication, 80% Take Rate.
VW sold a lot of cult cars too with the Beetle that was different but not sexy.
The true numbers were not released but many have the estimated canceled vehicles at 76% to 66% of the pre orders.
Tesla has not be totally honest with the numbers.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/tesla-where-did-all-those-pre-orders-go-1528987936
When you take forever to bring a vehicle to market after you’ve sold pre-orders, that shouldn’t be a surprise.
“Other than for the shock and awe, there is zero reason for that style.” — You could not be more wrong, Dan.”
1) 301 cold rolled stainless can’t be stamped. They is why you see straight lines on that thing everywhere.
2) A triangle is far stronger. This is the reason for the shape as you see it.
3) No paint shop required, which is the most difficult part of making a car.
4) The shape of the vehicle only need 1/3 the manufacturing footprint to build.
5) CT will have 14 moving parts in the entire drive train, if going in a straight line. 19 if turning.
6) All these things make for much higher margins for profit.
People have placed $100 deposit orders for the Cybertruck.
Are these serious buyers?
Should Tesla plan to build a production operation on that basis?
Serious enough for Tesla to take the Cybertruck off their site so more orders do not come in.
It looks like a giant doorstop.
A lot of people seem to hate the styling and don’t understand why it looks the way it looks. The answer is simple. Cheap manufacturing. One, they are essentially splitting R&D costs with SpaceX regarding steel welding and forming. Two, the flat body panels make it easy to stamp/extrude/weld/etc.
The price target is $39k, people. That’s why it looks like it was designed with nothing but a set square.
Still waiting for a 30K Model 3 promised by Musk
@Bill
Elon Musk never once promised a $30,000 Model 3
He did however Promise a $35,000 Model 3 that you can go to a Tesla Store and order if you want one.
I think hardly anyone orders them though.
No one orders them because they were on the site for only a short time and then got pulled.
Musk is a liar that constantly goes back on his words. He told the financial community that he wouldn’t issue new shared and two weeks later he did just that. This is just one example from thousands. A liar just like Trump.
How is Musk a liar when you can still order one?
Do you understand the definition of a Liar?
Of course Tesla would issue shares their Stock went up almost three times from when he made that Statement. Do you even understand how Companies work?
When an opportunity arises out of nowhere to grab 2.3 Billion dollars basically for next to nothing because your stock sky rocketed makes perfect sense.
Are you heavily involved in Oil Stock or a Short Seller? You seem really upset about a Company almost pulling off a heist so to speak for almost nothing. That is great Business Practice. Tesla now has about 8 Billion or so in the Bank. Do you know what kind of recession they can now whether or how many more Gigafactories they can build?
Another Genius move by Elon. He is 10 years ahead of any other CEO in terms of long Term thinking and vision and the Stock Price shows all of us just that.
I will never understand why Short Sellers or anyone really would bet against a man who figured out how to Launch, land, and reuse Rockets. SpaceX has almost litteraly taken Boeing Space out of Business Lol
Just wanted to inform everyone that Tesla has once again posted the Cybertruck on their Site. Lol
I think Tesla should indeed build a Factory in Austin, TX like the rumors suggest just for the Cybertruck and hopefully Cargo Vans as well.
Why don’t you move on to Tesla fanboy sites. Tesla sales are collapsing all over the world including China. Sales of electric cars were down over 50% before the virus.
Tesla is a house of cards and a pump and dump scheme.
@Bert
Do I run this site? Am I the one that placed an article talking about the Tesla Cybertruck?
Am I not allowed to give my opinions here like every other member?
And where do you get your news from that Tesla sales are tanking? Did they not just sell the most vehicles in their short History this past Quarter?
And for the record, I personally am not on any Tesla Fan sites. But thanks for thinking of me.
But yes I am a Tesla and Elon fan. But if you read my takes I want GM to catch up to them ASAP.
Tesla really is the Apple of the Auto industry. They got the model S almost perfect back in 2012. Just like the I pad in 2010. The nearest version is not much better than the original. Now eventually many manufacturers came out with very good tablets & phones. That’s what should happen with the Auto industry. It’s just taking longer.