Core77

The Weekly Design Roast, #26: Special Tesla Cybertruck Edition

Ten excuses for the design of Tesla's new truck

By Rain Noe - November 22, 2019

in Weekly Design Roast

When you go from the first napkin sketch straight into production.

"They said if we converted the CAD file from IGES to DXF we were going to lose some data. I told them we didn't mind."

"Someone borrowed my French curves and never gave them back. I can't draw freehand, so all I had to design this car with was a ruler."

"Originally it looked much different, but we accidentally dropped the clay model on the floor right before we scanned it, and thought it actually looked kind of cool."

"I designed this car because I'm that guy who always leaves my coffee cup on the roof while getting in, then drives off. The angle of the roofline will ensure I can't do that."

"We had to compromise and lose some of the elements from the renderings. For instance, the original wheels were supposed to be square."

True story: The rear cover retracts like a motorized blind; it turns a corner at the roofline and travels down along the rear window before rolling up into the front of the truck bed. So I guess if it rains before you retract it, this will be the first pickup truck that harvests its own drinking water for the passengers.

"We opted for a telescoping ramp because we don't imagine that anyone who actually buys this truck would ever step on it while wearing muddy boots."

"This truck HAD to be made with an impact-resistant ultra-hard 30x cold-rolled stainless steel. Because we made the sidewalls so tall and angled, our testing showed that every time someone tried to throw something into the bed from the sides, as is common, they missed and hit the metal instead."

"You'll notice the driver- and front-seat-passenger-seats are different; only the driver has a height-adjustable headrest. We didn't want to spend the money on doing that for the passenger seat, because chances are you won't be carrying any, since your friends won't want to be seen in this car."

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Richard C

5 years ago

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I absolutely love it. There are already trucks out there for everyone else. Its time someone got us into the future of the 80s. The only thing I would want more is a truck out of Mad Max.

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Matthew Hoey

5 years ago

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I suppose if it looked more like a traditional F-150 the skeptics would like it. Most iconic designs were considered a bit silly looking at first.

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Eric Strebel

5 years ago

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Yeah, all I can say is wow, looks like it was designed by an 8 year old with a crayon. Goodness, I almost feel bad for them, curious to see how many they will actually sell.

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John Dolittle

5 years ago

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I applaud that they were trying to think outside the box and do something new... but this looks just bad

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simon a.

4 years ago

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Hi Brian. What would you have made?

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Tim Rowledge

5 years ago

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You seem to have confused yourself regarding the front seats. The different design is the *middle* seat..
I think the whole thing is magnificently out there. All the ‘princess pickups ‘ I see on the road now look dated, stale, lame and rather sad. I’ve no idea if it will work well but it does seem that quite a few people like it enough to make the effort to pay a fee to reserve one; these days that attention grab is valuable more than the money. Despite my general lack of interest in pickups I’m almost tempted myself. My Subaru is sat going mouldy in the Vancouver Island weather but stainless should be a bit better. Hardened steel panels might even survive the brutal parking regime hereabouts. Remember, the island demographic includes residents with used Tyrannosaur saddles in the garage.

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Anthony Towers

5 years ago

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The driver and passenger seats are the same
The lower head rest is from the middle seat/center console

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Michael DiTullo

5 years ago

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:-D ... right on time. And some good discussions going on in the forum about it: https://boards.core77.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=39179

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