RobsJester
Member
Ok, so here’s my take, it was bold/risky, calculated and Genius (with a liberal dose of Hubris).
From a marketing perspective : a HUGE WIN. The world is on notice - Tesla is entering the truck market, that word went viral, hitting everyone’s news feed this morning (counterintuitively helped by Franz’s shattering a couple windows).
The event showed the Telsa “electrified truck” isn’t a compromise, or crossover, or some Cute-Ute with a small bed, or something for women, or families, or... well, anyone.
The Cybertruck is the most polarizing “masculine” truck to make it to concept and roll onto stage.
The vehicle can literally take sledgehammers and gunfire. Who is this truck for exactly? No one asked for this truck, no one needs this truck, no one other than Elon would have thought of this truck, it’s hella divisive - but everyone is put on notice : Tesla Trucks are “built tough” from stainless-steel balls.
And launching the Tesla Truck brand with THAT message is everything — simply genius brand-building! After last night, every good-old boy in the mid-west knows Tesla makes bad ass trucks fit for a dictator escaping a revolution. Do they want this truck, probably not since real truck guys don’t stray, the Ford F-150 guy with the Calvin(and hobs) decal pissing on a Chevy symbol would never swing by dealership to check out the new Silverado, he already knows he's not a “Chevy Guy”. And that same Ford guy would NEVER consider a foreign Honda/Toyota truck - you don’t see decals of Calvin pissing on Toyota for a reason... because, well, why even bother.
A good-old-boy “Ford Guy“ switching to a Chevy is like a Marlboro smoker asking for a Camel. It violates their identity of who they are. But, love the CybrTrk or hate it, that Ford Guy will want to see it for himself. When he comes across a CybrTrk in a parking lot in Little Rock — yeah, you bet he's going to walk up and check it out, because it's like nothing he's ever seen.
He’s read about this Steel Balls truck, which deflects Gun fire, has ground clearance and slope approach fit for a Hummer, also happens to out haul and out pull anything in that class. There is no mistaking it for anything else, that roof will catch your eye from blocks away — the cybertruck is a roided-up Batmobile in real life. And as the Ford Guy drives back the the ranch in his emasculated F150, he may consider a test drive.
....and most people on this forum knows the danger of the first test drive in a Tesla - it gets in your blood ... where he’ll fall in love with the performance, learns of the per/mile economics and practicality on the job site. And in a couple years when the Ford Guy’s due for a new truck, he has visions of embarrassing a city-boy from Houston driving his pansy German Porsche off the line. Poor Ford Guy doesn’t know what’s in for him, like many of us on this forum, the Tesla test drive was just meant to just be a quick fling, just to try it out, figure out what all the fuss is about. But layer that night... he, like many of us after our first drive wont be able to think of anything else, and a few clicks of a keyboard later, he puts down his deposit - suddenly this Ford Guy is no longer a Ford Guy.
Now consider if Tesla’s entrance into the truck market was a watered down compliance truck - sure it would be fast and likely best in class towing, but if there was a whiff of compromise in the design, the same Ford Guy will always consider Tesla Truck as Uninspired, Safe and Boring. Tesla’s Brand would forever be burned with the Ford Guy, just another truck no different than a Dodge Ram, he’d never consider a Tesla, or want to learn anything more, the love affair would be off before it began. Who cares what it can tow, if it’s not a Ford, may as well be a Honda Ridgeline. Out of the gate, the Cybertruck needed to grab his attention for it’s non-apologetic boldness, it has to be something that he’s just got to see for himself - it had to be CybrTrk.
My biggest takeaway, the Cybertruck is a Tesla... and one is even taking about it being an EV at all. Seriously, barely a mention about range or “how’s this truck going to charge up East-Texas” or how inefficient those tires must be, or the terrible Aerodynamics of a wedge - or that I secretly suspect it‘s amphibious. The news-ink is about a steel exoskeleton and bulletproof windows. We collectively moved past EV range anxiety in a full sized truck before the first one was delivered — the design is a stroke of genius!
So, fast forward two years when the Cybrtrk is aspirationally ready, and that’s when the entire stable of Tesla trucks is revealed - angular and masculine, but much more conventional vehicles built on Model Y and X chassis with class-leading towing/speed specs - and because they are part of the "Cybertruck" perigee, no one is going to get caught up on the range or charging, or dare say they are a cute truck for Coastal Elites... they are going to ask if the smaller truck’s windows are also bulletproof and can the bed fit the Cyber-Quad too?
Within a year of the first CybrTrk deliveries, I’d bet a more conventional Truck and true 3 Row SUV very similar to Rivian’s will be offered.
I truly believe the point of last night's event was a “hard-core snack down” finger in the eye to anyone who thought electric trucks would be boring or safe compliance vehicles.
In short, it was a bold pivot for Tesla’s Brand to appeal to a completely different segment. Tesla’s now makes extremely tough vehicles without compromise - oh, panel gaps can be sorted out with a sledgehammer.
My two cents, they will sell every CybrTrk they build.
From a marketing perspective : a HUGE WIN. The world is on notice - Tesla is entering the truck market, that word went viral, hitting everyone’s news feed this morning (counterintuitively helped by Franz’s shattering a couple windows).
The event showed the Telsa “electrified truck” isn’t a compromise, or crossover, or some Cute-Ute with a small bed, or something for women, or families, or... well, anyone.
The Cybertruck is the most polarizing “masculine” truck to make it to concept and roll onto stage.
The vehicle can literally take sledgehammers and gunfire. Who is this truck for exactly? No one asked for this truck, no one needs this truck, no one other than Elon would have thought of this truck, it’s hella divisive - but everyone is put on notice : Tesla Trucks are “built tough” from stainless-steel balls.
And launching the Tesla Truck brand with THAT message is everything — simply genius brand-building! After last night, every good-old boy in the mid-west knows Tesla makes bad ass trucks fit for a dictator escaping a revolution. Do they want this truck, probably not since real truck guys don’t stray, the Ford F-150 guy with the Calvin(and hobs) decal pissing on a Chevy symbol would never swing by dealership to check out the new Silverado, he already knows he's not a “Chevy Guy”. And that same Ford guy would NEVER consider a foreign Honda/Toyota truck - you don’t see decals of Calvin pissing on Toyota for a reason... because, well, why even bother.
A good-old-boy “Ford Guy“ switching to a Chevy is like a Marlboro smoker asking for a Camel. It violates their identity of who they are. But, love the CybrTrk or hate it, that Ford Guy will want to see it for himself. When he comes across a CybrTrk in a parking lot in Little Rock — yeah, you bet he's going to walk up and check it out, because it's like nothing he's ever seen.
He’s read about this Steel Balls truck, which deflects Gun fire, has ground clearance and slope approach fit for a Hummer, also happens to out haul and out pull anything in that class. There is no mistaking it for anything else, that roof will catch your eye from blocks away — the cybertruck is a roided-up Batmobile in real life. And as the Ford Guy drives back the the ranch in his emasculated F150, he may consider a test drive.
....and most people on this forum knows the danger of the first test drive in a Tesla - it gets in your blood ... where he’ll fall in love with the performance, learns of the per/mile economics and practicality on the job site. And in a couple years when the Ford Guy’s due for a new truck, he has visions of embarrassing a city-boy from Houston driving his pansy German Porsche off the line. Poor Ford Guy doesn’t know what’s in for him, like many of us on this forum, the Tesla test drive was just meant to just be a quick fling, just to try it out, figure out what all the fuss is about. But layer that night... he, like many of us after our first drive wont be able to think of anything else, and a few clicks of a keyboard later, he puts down his deposit - suddenly this Ford Guy is no longer a Ford Guy.
Now consider if Tesla’s entrance into the truck market was a watered down compliance truck - sure it would be fast and likely best in class towing, but if there was a whiff of compromise in the design, the same Ford Guy will always consider Tesla Truck as Uninspired, Safe and Boring. Tesla’s Brand would forever be burned with the Ford Guy, just another truck no different than a Dodge Ram, he’d never consider a Tesla, or want to learn anything more, the love affair would be off before it began. Who cares what it can tow, if it’s not a Ford, may as well be a Honda Ridgeline. Out of the gate, the Cybertruck needed to grab his attention for it’s non-apologetic boldness, it has to be something that he’s just got to see for himself - it had to be CybrTrk.
My biggest takeaway, the Cybertruck is a Tesla... and one is even taking about it being an EV at all. Seriously, barely a mention about range or “how’s this truck going to charge up East-Texas” or how inefficient those tires must be, or the terrible Aerodynamics of a wedge - or that I secretly suspect it‘s amphibious. The news-ink is about a steel exoskeleton and bulletproof windows. We collectively moved past EV range anxiety in a full sized truck before the first one was delivered — the design is a stroke of genius!
So, fast forward two years when the Cybrtrk is aspirationally ready, and that’s when the entire stable of Tesla trucks is revealed - angular and masculine, but much more conventional vehicles built on Model Y and X chassis with class-leading towing/speed specs - and because they are part of the "Cybertruck" perigee, no one is going to get caught up on the range or charging, or dare say they are a cute truck for Coastal Elites... they are going to ask if the smaller truck’s windows are also bulletproof and can the bed fit the Cyber-Quad too?
Within a year of the first CybrTrk deliveries, I’d bet a more conventional Truck and true 3 Row SUV very similar to Rivian’s will be offered.
I truly believe the point of last night's event was a “hard-core snack down” finger in the eye to anyone who thought electric trucks would be boring or safe compliance vehicles.
In short, it was a bold pivot for Tesla’s Brand to appeal to a completely different segment. Tesla’s now makes extremely tough vehicles without compromise - oh, panel gaps can be sorted out with a sledgehammer.
My two cents, they will sell every CybrTrk they build.
