Tesla, TSLA & the Investment World: the Perpetual Investors' Roundtable

[Tim S]

Stop what you’re doing and read this Motortrend review. They got a sneak peek:

Tesla Cybertruck is HERE! Photos, Info on the Wildest Pickup Ever Revealed Tonight - Motor Trend

No paint shop needed. Stainless silver or get a wrap.

 

[PeterJA]

I think the strategy here is similar to the one they successfully deployed for cars. The Roadster was a very badass car that was super uncomfortable to get in and out of, and appealed to a very niche audience. But the point of the Roadster was to shatter a preconception: that electric cars were slow and unsexy. The Roadster? Boom! Super fast and super sexy. They then followed with mass market cars with fairly traditional styling.

For the truck market, the preconception is that electric vehicles are for latte drinking tree huggers. A real man drives a badass gas guzzler. Electric vehicles are golf carts. The Cybertruck? Boom! It's more badass than anything ever made by anyone other than the military. Specs that blow everything else out of the water. They can follow with a pickup with more traditional styling later as they grow capacity to produce mass market trucks.

The TSLA SP didn't grow much with the Roadster. It was the Model S that took the SP to where it is now. This Cybertruck won't do much for the SP now, but it is setting the stage for future growth.

I agree with much of this, except the suggestion that Cybertruck is a niche product and must be followed by a mass-market design for Tesla to succeed.

The design of this truck is military. It is badass. It is tough. That IS what the mass market wants in a truck. Men and women who buy trucks like to project an image of strength and power and ruggedness. You can call that market a niche, but it is huge.

Is Cybertruck TOO badass, to the point of ostentation? Maybe for some folks. But when I see decorative testicles hanging from the back of pickups, I think macho ostentation is a big part of truck ownership.

 

[KarenRei]

Twitter reacts to the Cybertruck, Part 2

 

[MartinAustin]

Gotta love how this car comes in a total of 3 different hardware permutations with one single option to upgrade software. Logistics, production and service will be much simplified.

Not correct. You are writing about what is visible today. They will have more options to choose and select when the vehicle is closer to being sold. (my opinion)

Customers are all laying down the same, refundable $100 but Tesla is getting advance data on what trim levels are preferred. And the $7000 FSD is probably because the price will be going up, but they can use the reservations to predict what their FSD income is going to be.

 

[SoGA Fan Club]

Ordered. Being able to lock the FSD price is nice.

I did too. For $100, I don't care if you like it or not, it's worth the gamble. Heck, I'm betting it gets massaged a little over the next year to 18 months and comes out looking a whole lot better. My $100 gamble will be looking good.

I know this isn't a prototype, but most of the times when a manufacturer shows a prototype, it's awesome and you're thinking, "I hope they build that". But in this case, it's the total opposite.

 

[phantasms]

Yea, I'm not quite able to digest this double stack battery with 3 motors for $70k. Double stack? Surely that is two 100 kWh battery packs right? So, 200 kWh at $200 is $40k. And 3 motors? And throw in a vehicle around all that? They must seriously think they are going to be building cheap batteries in 2021.

This sure bodes well for the price of the S and X. I can see the sales of the X tripling if they can sell it for $65k. And why not, it will only have $10k worth of batteries in it, so it seems. Heck, throw that 120 kWh pack in it, get the range to 400, and sell it for $70k. I'd buy 2 right now!

Exactly. I love the truck but, despite the glass which will simply give us a buying opportunity, this gives us a look at future fundamentals and shows the game is over for ICE and the Germans.

 

[keydiver]

Motortrend says the tonneau rolls up, but I thought Fritz slid it into the passenger compartment.

When they retracted it, you could see the tonneau go down behind the passenger compartment, and MT said there is a storage compartment under the truck, behind the battery, where it retracts to. So, it basically goes front, then down, then back.

 

[EVDRVN]

I think the stock will go down but I love the truck. I'd get the short range just for random things around town like going to home depot.

Wish we could get an interior shot.

The interior is an option, this was the base truck they were showing. Add $10K to each model and a huge up charge for paint, At least the companies that do wraps will make a killing,

 

[KarenRei]

Quite a sight to see it in motion. Looks unreal.

MotorTrend on Twitter

Truck is apparently huge in person.

Hamid Shojaee on Twitter

 

[larmor]

Lambo urus is somewhat angular and 0-60 in 3.6 sec, so the Model T wins again....

 

[Hank Moody]

Bad presentation. Long waiting time. Perfect truck!

I really don’t worry about the design. Was shocked at first, but it’s been only an hour and it’s already growing on me. Once all the influencers start hyping it everybody will want one. Plus it's really genius from a manufacturing point of view. Making conventional looking pick-up with stainless-steel exoskeleton would be almost impossible. Production cost could really be on par with model 3.

 

[ZachF]

Give it a black wrap and a brush guard and lift it up all the way, and you're a villain in an 80s movie.

 

[powertoold]

Hummer sales for comparison. Tesla will be able to do 40-70K a year easily IMO.

 

[Buckminster]

Yea, I'm not quite able to digest this double stack battery with 3 motors for $70k. Double stack? Surely that is two 100 kWh battery packs right? So, 200 kWh at $200 is $40k. And 3 motors? And throw in a vehicle around all that? They must seriously think they are going to be building cheap batteries in 2021.

This sure bodes well for the price of the S and X. I can see the sales of the X tripling if they can sell it for $65k. And why not, it will only have $10k worth of batteries in it, so it seems. Heck, throw that 120 kWh pack in it, get the range to 400, and sell it for $70k. I'd buy 2 right now!

Major Maxwell improvement secured.
Seems that all products following the MY will debut with new battery tech. Explains the long pause between Semi & Roadster unveil to production.

 

[ZachF]

Bad presentation. Long waiting time. Perfect truck!

I really don’t worry about the design. Was shocked at first, but it’s been only an hour and it’s already growing on me. Once all the influencers start hyping it everybody will want one. Plus it's really genius from a manufacturing point of view. Making conventional looking pick-up with stainless-steel exoskeleton would be almost impossible. Production cost could really be on par with model 3.

Kanye and Post Malone will buy like 30 of them.

 

[NicoV]

Reminds me of this prototype military ship
https://defense-update.com/20140824_super_ghost.htmlView attachment 479850

Hopefully it is stealth, so that it doesn’t register on police (speed) radars.

 

[sdtslafan]

Some people are saying the stock will drop tomorrow. I can understand why. Its a very polarizing design and will likely not appeal to the generic buyers of trucks like the F150.

But I'm seeing it on this forum and in the news - there is a subset of people who are going to buy this thing. And its not an insignificant fraction of the population.

And the specs further show Tesla's cost and technology advantage.

So even if the stock does drop tomorrow, its possible it could reverse very quickly and that could make shorts (and longs) realize that there is nothing stopping this thing.

I'm not saying it will happen this way, but I've seen it before, and you have too.

 

[Causalien]

Checked numerous tech forums...
As I suspected. Cybernecks love these.
After some thought, the demographic for this truck are for those that drives a truck daily, but actually don't use it that much for work and is not necessary for their work, the previously defined urban truck drivers.
Plus if you really want to haul lumber and ladder and works stuff, I believe this truck is designed to haul a trailer in mind.

 

[mltv]

I did not see the cameras on this truck. can it do FSD?

 

[AudubonB]

More observations:

1. There appears to be a footwell in the side edge of the tailgate - look at it when it is in its 3-tier ramp configuration for the ATV to use. Good job.

2. OK - no side view mirrors, and an aluminum tambour tonneau which renders the rear view mirror useless. So...100% of the rear view is via cameras and lenses? Better not drive where there may be rain, snow, dust or mud. That looks like a problem.

3. Is there no frunk at all? Is the front wedge good only for stretching out one's Nocona Lucchese _____kickers? I really wanted to see a hyper-torqued winch there.....

4. Cargo volume data - and esp. comparisons - seems specious. Restrict the comparison to what's under the tonneau? Goofy. The beauty of a pickup is that the bed can be piled high with all sorts of items reaching as far as the lowest overpass allows.....