Excitement for Elon Musk’s hotly-anticipated Tesla Cybertruck is continuing to grow, even though the futuristic concept has been repeatedly delayed over the last few years.
Earlier this month it was revealed that Tesla had quietly removed the promise of 2022 production from its website, having originally pushed back the vehicle debut from 2021, but a new video has now emerged appearing to show a prototype of it.
The leaked walkaround clip doesn’t appear to impress whoever filmed it, however, as they describe it as looking ‘like a stainless steel refrigerator’.
It is also called ‘fragile’, although the person recording does praise the storage space to the rear and the ‘ridiculous’ giant windscreen wiper.
The video, which posted to the Cybertruck Owners Club forum, offers the closest glimpse yet of the Tesla prototype, which generated a lot of buzz when it was brought to New York City ahead of Musk’s Saturday Night Live appearance in May last year.
It provides a 360° look at the vehicle as the person walks around, giving viewers a look at the wheels, tailgate, and storage bed of the cybertruck.
Earlier this month it was revealed that Tesla had quietly removed the promise of 2022 production from its website, having originally pushed back the vehicle debut from 2021, but a new video has now emerged appearing to show a prototype of it
Whoever filmed it praises the front but is not impressed with the whole truck, saying it looks ‘like a stainless steel refrigerator’
It is also called ‘fragile’, although the person recording does praise the storage space to the rear and the ‘ridiculous’ giant windscreen wiper
The video provides a 360° look at the vehicle as the person walks around, giving viewers a look at the wheels, tailgate, and storage bed of the cybertruck
The video, which posted to the Cybertruck Owners Club forum, offers the closest glimpse yet of the Tesla prototype, which generated a lot of buzz when it was brought to New York City ahead of Musk’s Saturday Night Live appearance in May last year
It provides a 360° look at the vehicle as the person walks around, giving viewers a look at the wheels, tailgate, and storage bed of the cybertruck
This version doesn’t have any door handles, unlike the prototype shown during Tesla’s 2019 announcement event, but the recording appears to suggest you can tap your phone or a keycard on a sensor to open the door.
Although the video appears to show the prototype, because it is a concept there is a good chance that the final version will end up markedly different when it hits the road for consumers.
The leak of the clip comes just a month after the new Cybertruck design was caught on video at a Fremont, California, test track, prompting an outpouring of ridicule on social media over the vehicle’s appearance.
It showed the electric truck had a wiper that extends from the hood to nearly the sunroof, visually dominating the aesthetics of the vehicle.
‘Literally nobody will buy that,’ tweeted @PMack1224. ‘It looks like one of my son’s Lego cars. That’s actually doing a disservice to the cars he makes, they look better than this. And he’s 4.’
Others complained the the new prototype differs from the original design in that it has rear view mirrors, which Musk said are required by law when being shipped out by manufacturers.
Musk, however, has claimed he is indifferent to whether the public like the truck or not.
Last July, the Tesla billionaire tweeted: ‘To be frank, there is always some chance that Cybertruck will flop, because it is so unlike anything else,’ he said. ‘I don’t care. I love it so much even if others don’t.’
Although the video appears to show the prototype, because it is a concept there is a good chance that the final version will end up markedly different when it hits the road for consumers
The leak of the clip comes just a month after the new Cybertruck design was caught on video at a Fremont, California, test track, prompting an outpouring of ridicule on social media over the vehicle’s appearance
It showed the electric truck had a wiper that extends from the hood to nearly the sunroof, visually dominating the aesthetics of the vehicle
When the Cybertruck was first announced, Musk claimed it would cost $39,900 and would tow up to 7,500lbs Those claims have also disappeared and were scrubbed from the website at some point last year
The Cybertruck originally debuted in November 2019, with its futuristic armored vehicle-look and angular sides dividing the internet
When Musk unveiled the truck to the world in 2019, he claimed the glass was shatterproof, but he was proven wrong when an engineer smashed a window in front of a live audience
The Cybertuck features a unique futuristic design including ‘Armor Glass’
As recently as December, the Tesla website had promised customers that they could complete the ‘configuration’ of their vehicles ‘as production nears in 2022’. But a month later and the page has since been updated to read that the ‘configurations’ could be finished ‘as production nears’.
Tesla has not yet commented but the move suggests yet another delay in the roll out of the futuristic-style truck, which was first promised back in early 2021.
Its market debut was then pushed back to 2022 with Tesla CEO Musk citing Covid for triggering a ‘supply chain nightmare’.
When the Cybertruck was first announced, Musk claimed it would cost $39,900 (£29,500) and would tow up to 7,500lbs Those claims have also disappeared and were scrubbed from the website at some point last year.
The Cybertruck originally debuted in November 2019, with its futuristic armored vehicle-look and angular sides dividing the internet.
But its unveiling infamously went awry when Tesla design chief Franz von Holshausen took the stage at a high-profile launch event to prove the glass was ‘shatterproof.’
Musk then very quickly proved it wasn’t when he threw a metal ball at a window — smashing it.
He was heard muttering ‘oh my f***ing God’ when his showpiece test failed.
Musk then took to Twitter to explain why the windows of his Cybertruck embarrassingly broke during a failed strength test at its launch event.
He claimed that the base of the glass window had already been weakened during a previous demo.
Cybertruck — alongside Tesla’s Semi and Model Y — will feature the new 4680 battery cell, which was revealed in September 2020 during the firm’s Battery Day.
And although the firm has ‘successfully validated performance and lifetime of the battery,’ it still has more work to do in order to ramp up production.
Tesla has received more than 1 million pre-orders for its Cybertruck, numerous outlets have reported.
They are still available online with a $100 deposit.