Elon Musk has finally unveiled his long awaited Blade Runner-inspired “Cybertruck”, or Tesla ute, and divided opinion among the Tesla community with a “literally bullet proof” armoured personnel carrier of the future.
The much anticipated Tesla truck has been a pet project of Musk’s since 2012, and that much was evident in the live stream of the flashy launch, which was beamed across the inter web from Los Angeles on Thursday night, local time.
The design of the Cybertruck – first teased in March of this year – has been talked up by Musk as hyper-futuristic to the point that it might not be to most peoples’ taste. And at first look, he was not kidding.
“It doesn’t look like anything else,” Musk said, after the Cybertruck was driven onto stage and futuristic leather-clad beings poured out of the vehicle like clowns out of a mini.
And it really doesn’t. A jarring pyramid shape, it looks more like a space tank, ready for war in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, than a pick-up. It is even made of the same materials as one of his space-craft.
We learn that it is made of 30x cold-rolled stainless steel, the strength of which is demonstrated by a man called Franz, whom Musk invites on stage to hit the panels with a sledgehammer, to no effect. It is also shown (via video this time) to be “literally bullet proof” to a 9mm hand gun.
“When we say something is built tough, that’s what me mean,” Musk told an obligingly awe-struck crowd of mostly media.
The demonstration of the “transparent metal glass” does not go quite as well.
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