Tesla’s Cybertruck: A Mix of Horror and Awe
When Tesla revealed the vehicle’s design in November 2019, Paul Snyder, chair of the Transportation Design program at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, had mixed feelings about the Cybertruck, the first of which will be unveiled during an event for investors and fans on Thursday in Austin, Texas. His first reaction was a question. “Like, what is going on over there?” says Snyder. The triangular, flat, sharp-edged design was, as he puts it, “a total departure from conventions and rules for car design as have been taught in the West for the last 100 years.” Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made clear that was intentional, saying, “We want to be the leader in apocalypse technology.”
Horror and Awe
The Cybertruck evokes awe in Snyder. “I have to respect the fact that it’s the coolest thing some people have ever seen,” he says. While mass production of the truck has yet to begin (and won’t until 2025, according to Musk), Snyder has begun to see its influence in his students’ designs and in the subtle angular shapes in competitors’ concept vehicles. It’s possible the Cybertruck has already changed the world of automotive design, he says.
The Unique and Uncompromising Design
Four years after its chaotic debut on a stage in Los Angeles, car industry watchers say the Cybertruck’s unique design still repels, intrigues, and fascinates. At this point, the biggest surprise might be that the electric-car maker stuck with the thing and doesn’t appear to have significantly softened its design.
Challenging Design Choices
One theme of the Cybertruck’s off-kilter aesthetic is simplicity—straight lines, bare surfaces, sharp corners. Taking that approach actually makes building the thing a lot more complex. “Tesla has shown a concept and wanted to actually make the concept,” says Dale Harrow, chair and director of the Intelligent Mobility Design Center at the Royal College of Art London. In the automotive business, designers create concept cars to showcase new technology and experiment with new vehicle forms and materials. They often look weird—but that’s because they’re not real. Not with the Cybertruck. Tesla has “really stuck to their guns on this,” Harrow says.
The vehicle’s stainless steel exterior panels, which Tesla dubs an “exoskeleton” because it provides crash resistance from the outside, likely created production obstacles not present in vehicles made of more conventional materials finished with a coat of paint. Stainless steel resists corrosion and allows Tesla to avoid the pricey, complicated, and environmentally damaging process of painting.
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