Comment by waiseristy
7 years ago
I feel like I am taking crazy pills with the amount of good sentiment to this design. This thing is absolutely fugly. The guys over at Rivian must be having a party right now.
7 years ago
I feel like I am taking crazy pills with the amount of good sentiment to this design. This thing is absolutely fugly. The guys over at Rivian must be having a party right now.
As someone with a strong preference for a classical aesthetic I'm finding it hard to reason just how drawn to this vehicle I am.
It's just so outrageously different, offers the functionality of both a truck and the tech and performance of a Tesla, and isn't comparable with other 'trucks' which I'd argue are homogeneous in nature, cliche, particularly un-aesthetically pleasing and are synonymous with gas-guzzling North American indulgence.
Regardless, it's another instance of Musk pushing boundaries which I find myself continually applauding.
How old are you? This Reminds of what we thought the future would look like in the 80s.
I’d totally buy a reasonably priced car with this aesthetic.
Not only 80s! Plenty of sci-fi shows had something similar as a generic future car design base, except with a proper paint job and extra lights here and there. This car can be easily turned into something that looks properly modern.
Related, this seems to be something of a theme with Musk's companies. Landing rockets is an old-school concept, and Starship looks like it was taken straight from the cover of some pulp sci-fi work from the 60s.
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Born in the 80s but old enough to remember the end of them. If what you're saying is that in producing what is a very futuristic truck design, especially compared to the current market, that Musk is actually evoking a sense of nostalgia from a demographic likely to be the target market then I can't say I'd disagree.
I fear Musk wants to recreate all those future visions he's seen in eighties movies and tv shows in his childhood. If his next product is the Airwolf helicopter I feel vindicated.
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It's definitely tapping into current retro-futurism that is super focused on vaporwave/80s stuff. It's a phase that I wouldn't personally bet on, because at the time they were simply projecting what they thought the future would look like, and were just wrong.
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the fact it looks like a truck version of the DMC DeLorean doesn't help either.
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Fitting that it's released in November 2019, the month nad year the original Bladerunner was set in
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>How old are you? This Reminds of what we thought the future would look like in the 80s.
As soon as I saw it I thought "dystopian future military transport". Then I remembered Blade Runner is set this month, of this year, and uncharacteristically giggled.
It's Brutalism with a wheel at each corner. Not gonna lie, I kinda love it.
I like it, but I think the wheels look too small. If the wheels were like, bigger, it would look fucking cool.
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That's an interesting change from the 50's retro scifi look.
Looks like Ark II style scifi from the 80s.
It reminds me of the Vector.
I'm tired of curvy trucks anyways. Maybe it's a good time to go back to something more straight. I also like that the exterior can take such a beating. It doesn't make sense that a tough pick-up can get so easily dinged and scratched. I would MUCH rather have that durable shell.
I agree that curvy got taken to excess, but I'd rather go back to something like a Land Rover Defender aesthetic, where every surface is something to stand or mount something on, often with built in grip surface or mounts.
This dystopian cross between stealth bomber and Mad Max is angular, but straight in all the wrong directions.
It looks like it's going to be a challenge to pass EU pedestrian safety regs, but I'm quite impressed they have achieved the ugliest road vehicle bar none. I'm amazed the balance of comments here seems hugely in favour - to me it looks like a wind up!
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The fact that you hate modern truck design means you are not representative of 99% of truck buyers. Have you noticed the Honda Ridgeline has completely fell in line with other manufactures styling because of I presume market pressure?
I'd never claim to be representative of 99% of truck buyers. Like most here I work in tech and live in the city.
Do I see this turning up on construction sites in the next few years? No, probably not, for many reasons. Can I see it capturing some of the market of recreational truck buyers? I can, just as the Model S took part of the luxury sports car market by appealing to people who could likely afford more expensive "status" vehicles by being different.
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I was wondering about this. Will the design fail as it's so out there and truck owners see themselves in a classic truck shape. Or maybe the design works because truck buyers want a large, stand-out vehicle and the extreme design of the Tesla might just appeal to those who really want to stand out.
Who are the 1% of truck buyers who don't like trucks?
Whether you like it or hate it, you have to take your hat off to the Tesla marketing department. This thing is a meme on wheels.
_Everyone_ is going to see this, have an opinion on it, and want to know what everyone else's opinion on it is.
Exactly right. It's polarizing. Very polarizing, if this comment thread is any indication. And the pole of people who absolutely love it will buy it. That group of people does not need to be large for this to be successful.
This is a great example of the marketing strategy that advocates focusing on a small group of very passionate customers. If you can create a set of fanatical early adopters for a brand-new product, you're on your way to success. Very few products achieve immediate mainstream success and assuming that Tesla won't likely have the production capacity to meet mainstream demand anyway, this is a very smart play.
It looks like the attempt of a “futuristic” vehicle in an early 90’s low polygon video game.
Reading these responses makes me think I’m out of the loop on some joke. Seriously. I had no doubt when I came to the discussion that all the comments would be about how ugly it is.
Maybe this is one of those white/gold vs. black/blue dress things. Or the “yanni” thing.
I’m blown away by any of the comments that find the design appealing.
>It looks like the attempt of a “futuristic” vehicle in an early 90’s low polygon video game.
In a world where every manufacturer makes cars that look basically the same as every other car in the world, I'm fucking stoked on this.
they don't, people just buy similar looking models because weird cars generally don't sell well, with some exceptions.
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It seems to me that most of the engineering is in the 'skateboard', There's no reason they can't sell the same chassis with two different bodies. - The cybertruck for people who want that. - A more conventional body for anyone else.
I think there is some cost issue in making the car armored. With a sandwich material it would be way more feasible to put together planar cuts than to cold form them. Armor usually is pretty stiff.
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And here you go. The Walrus ATV from Carrier Command.
http://www.retrogamer.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/launchi...
Reminds me to the car from the opening sequence of Another World: http://firsthour.net/screenshots/another-world/another-world...
It's almost a concentrate of the 80s born crowd childhood. Yes it's low poly, you can add 80s neon design cues:
- https://imgur.com/a/eHUNSqu
- https://imgur.com/a/xt3Cbm4
- https://imgur.com/a/kYy7mVv
- <insert delorean bare metal>
You can even see a little Mad Max oriented punk on elon buddies clothing on stage.
Note that Peugeot attempted a similar thing with the 508 electric revival recently.
It looks like a shark. There's definitely a deliberately threatening aesthetic to it. That's likely why it's so polarizing. As someone who likes medieval weapons, predators, and martial arts competitions, I definitely find it a beautiful design.
Just needs more spikes on the front ;)
> early 90’s low polygon video game.
Seeing the truck I was immediately reminded of the original Death Track game.
Low poly is the new black.
Do you find hypermasculine aesthetics (big game hunting, big guns, aggressive looking trucks) appealing though?
>I feel like I am taking crazy pills with the amount of good sentiment to this design. This thing is absolutely fugly.
The funny part to me is that this design is something I saw often maybe 20 years ago. It's the stereotypical future car that major automotive design departments often came up with, and sketched up in programs like Alias AutoStudio, back when it was still Alias. None of the designs ever saw prototypes let alone production, I'm guessing largely because they were too radical for the time and thus seen as too risky.
It's like it's half future car of the early 2000s, and the other half a nod to DeLorean.
Flash forward to 2019, the world's falling apart and going crazy at the same time, things feel a lot more surreal, advancements are becoming too numerous for the average person to keep track of, AI is a big deal, smartphones and all manner of tech are just a boring fact of life now, and as always the future is right around the corner, but for real this time.
Likewise, 80s and early 90s nostalgia is in vogue right now. Cyberpunk 2077 is nearing release. For the target audience of this car, they remember the 80s because they either grew up in it or lived it.
When you lay eyes on this thing, you immediately go "What the fuck, is that a real car?" I can think of no better marketing.
It's a rather genius design in my opinion, a retrofuture tribute to a future that never was, but now is.
Analysis aside, I tend to agree with you: it's pretty ugly, but for some reason I really like it.
The look grows on me the more I look at the model. I’m used to thinking trucks are fugly, though. They’re often gigantic rectangles that I associate with noise and function over form. This is definitely more progressive looking than the blocky designs I see on the road.
I personally hope it fails and they redesign since I don't want to be forced to drive around in a city with a bunch of these on the street - they are that ugly to me, viscerally ugly. And I waited for the better part of a year to watch yesterday's live stream, hoping they would get it right while worried they would miss the practical side of things after the odd choice on the model x doors which allow for no roof racks. meh. But the basic tech is phenomenal.
>This thing is absolutely fugly.
Fugly is in the eye of the beholder. To me this is an outstanding design, with crazy cool cyberpunk inspiration, and finally a fucking bold design move -- 99% of cars looking the same shit, even sports cars like Lamborginis sticking to the same designs since the 80s...
I've had to see such an interesting take since the DeLorean....
That's because the look of a Lamborghini is one of it's core signature elements. They could design a very nice looking car, but if it doesn't look like a Lamborghini, then a lot of their client base would be disappointed.
You'll notice this pattern with many of the really high end cars. Some signature elements are always present and evolve only very slowly over time. You could call it the master stroke, it's what makes a particular brand distinct from others. This is deliberate and I for one like that.
A complete newcomer can design whatever they want right away.
That's because the Lamborghinis from the 1970s and 1980s looked amazing!!
Your opinion may vary somewhat
It looks like some old cyberpunk idea of what the future would look like. For that, I love the design.
But it’s absolutely hideous without taking it in the context of resembling sci-fi. The wheels just look goofy.
Now if it concealed the tires, it’d look great. Just a solid block of metal. But it’d also be hell for maintenance.
It would be cool to have if we were always in the smoke ridden neon illuminated world of Blade Runner. But outside of that I think it is pretty fugly.
I love the idea of a perfect meme vehicle. Almost bosozoku like. But I'm guessing it won't do well in the market
I think this car will be popular in Japan.
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Goofy? Having driven through rural America this summer, the thing will fall right in.
Agreed, it reminds me of alienware laptops. Had all these good specs but everybody was too embarrassed to be seen in public with one.
I think it's genius. A lot of pickup truck owners seem to feel that trucks are manly and Tesla owners are wimps. This post-apocalyptic nightmare of a truck will make it hard to keep feeling that way.
I hope they've included biodefense mode.
This is a really good point. Hard for others to make fun of your fancy tree hugging electric truck when it looks like that.
I agree, it looks like a stealth bomber fucked a Prius.
A stealth bomber from the 70s!
Apparently the F117 looks like that because they didn't have enough computational power to simulate more complex surfaces.
> The guys over at Rivian must be having a party right now
Except the base Tesla is $20,000 cheaper than the base Rivian.
The High end Telsa (with 500+ miles of range and 2.9 0-60) is the same price as the base Rivian.
Rivian are shitting themselves right now about pricing.
$30,000 cheaper you mean. The mid-tier dual-motor is $20,000 cheaper.
Honestly this could be a brilliant strategy to destroy competition if I didn't think they were so inept.
What makes you think they are inept?
The Model S has been awarded as one of the best vehicles ever made, and has the highest safety rating of any car ever made.
Same for the Model X, and the Model 3.
Why do people still think Tesla "can't do it" when they already have, time and again?
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I know that design is totally subjective, but somehow this reminds of the Homer-Car design-wise. Is it just me or do a lot of the late Tesla / SpaceX designs look like a 7 year-old draw rockets and future-cars back in the 70s and 80s?
We could probably learn a lot from 7 year olds. It is an incredible age. First grasp of reason and a real understanding of the world, and nothing has been beat out of them yet.
Ten bucks says this thing has never seen a wind tunnel, which is strange for something that's meant to be energy efficient
Designed for suburban speeds - air resistance is not that important.
It obviously is. The front is all the same angle.
Beauty must be in the eye of the beholder. This just screams FU gas at the top of its lungs.
As a rider who hates breathing diesel particulates, I love it.
The current F150 is probably the ugliest car I’ve ever seen, but I understand that sells pretty well. Granted, I am not the target demographic.
I had never thought I'd want a truck. This though is totally retro and I absolutely love it. Looks like Elon Musk is finally making stuff that's something Tony Stark would've created (aesthetically). Seems very Iron Man to me.
Having grown up in the 90s with a dream of becoming an automotive designer one of my favorite designs was that of the Lamborghini Countach (1974). The Cybertruck design is reminiscent of that design (to me), and I think that's one of the reasons it's drawing me in so strongly.
I think you're just too used to the kool-aid. From an engineering perspective, curvy cars are a disgusting PIA. There's no way to work on them without special tools, every dent is a big deal... they're like long fake painted nails: a total hinderance to work.
This car looks like I could beat the fuck out of it and the fix it with a sheet of metal and either a welder, some bolts, or some rivets. I see beauty in adaptability, which is something modern cars have none of.
I find it hard to believe the typical market for pickups would actually find this an attractive vehicle as well. I keep seeing "Masculine" referring to the design, but this looks like a fairly poor attempt at superficial masculinity, and definitely not a genuinely rugged and practical vehicle, which is what is generally considered attractive in a pickup or offroad vehicle. Purpose is the aesthetic, rather than aesthetics being the purpose.
> definitely not a genuinely rugged and practical vehicle
Why would you say that? I think its ugly but maybe if all trucks looked this way we'd think the current ones are the ugly ones.
I'd say it looks like this BECAUSE it's rugged and practical.
There doesn't seem to be a practical reason for it to look the way it does, so I doubt it looks that way because it's more practical. For one, the roofs angle is counter-intuitive if you intend to put a roof rack or other kinds of utility racks over the roof or roof and tray. The rear tray also has sides that go up to the roof. How are you supposed to put stuff in and out from the side of the tray? That's a pretty common use case, ignored for aesthetics. If the panels are aluminium, it's going to get roughed up pretty quickly in the tray sides and top parts as well.
The rear tray is also looks smaller than the renderings make it out to be. They have a quad in one picture that takes up the full length and then a sleeping fitout in another that also takes up the full length, either it's a really long quad or they are really short people.
I'm sure this will become more fleshed out over time, I doubt this is the final specification for the car.
I can't wait to see all the different renderings people come out with, to show potential aftermarket parts for this thing. I think that will be the real display of whether or not it will make for a good utility vehicle. I can imagine this looking extremely purposeful and rugged with the right equipment on it.
Yea, it feels like a parody of a Tesla vehicle, especially when you see the interior.
Nothing some paint and a headlight rack can't fix.
I can’t wait to see one with a gunrack.
In the next episode of Mad Max.
I'm not a design expert by any amount. But I really like its shape. Maybe it's because I was an 80s child. It's like Robocop's car. The design attracts me much more than the more ... conventional, rouded? Tesla vehicles.
You do know how G Wagon, the ultimate $ symbol, looks like, right?
More or less still like the first generation of it?
I think the $30000 price difference would put a lot of panic in that laugh if Rivian didn't have some insane pre-orders in the bag from Amazon.
Rivian pretty much is half Amazon, preorders from yourself dont count for much.
100K guaranteed sales count for a lot. I'm sure Tesla would love it if their shareholders placed 100K orders for this new truck.
It's big, bad and punk hitting the current trends. In a decade we're going to look back on this and wonder what we were thinking.
I'm wondering what they're thinking...right now.
They're planning to look 'futuristic' for 2024. This thing will launch in 2020 along with Cyberpunk 2077, and will have the rough edges shaved off it for 2024 when it lands on mars. Elon's oversight role will increase and the main thrust of the project will be handed over to someone who can 'make it big' and focus on creating a glut of average items on Mars in roughly the same style, that Elon validates.
Then we will transition into a feminine, high quality style for 2028.
And the Rivian has a lot of smart features truck owners like.
To me it looks like the Tesla is for people who want that truck and the Rivian for people who need a truck.
And yeah imho the Cybertruck is very ugly. It looks like a copy of the Maserati Boomerang (1971) which was futuristic back then.
But maybe Shirley Bassey was right: it's all history repeating.
I love it. It's like one of the 'all sharp angles and super futurey and stuff!' cars from an 80s sci-fi film, where they've taken the body off a real car and welded up some ludicrous replacement. I mean why not FFS - have you seen what Chinese tastes are doing to BMW's grills?
It reminds me of a Prius and the other early EVs that weren't very popular exactly because they stood out in a bad way. I think part of Tesla's appeal is that their cars look mostly "normal", so to have this ridiculous stand-out design is unusual.
I don't like the tail end look - I wish they had kept the tailgate mostly vertical. However, if the marketing is to be believed re: the shape of the vehicle lending itself to its safety and strength, then I see beauty in function.
Yes it's not "right", fugly is relative to context, trends can make something fugly pretty. It's on the extreme-limit side of the spectrum. It's probably gonna have enough buyers to have its place IMO.
https://wikipedia.org/wiki/De_gustibus_non_est_disputandum
The Rivian is so uninteresting though. It's small and dainty and looks like a Honda, which isn't a good thing for a truck.
It’s ugly but it’s different. People can see you have one from 8 miles away. That’s an essential part of a status symbol. Like the extremely ugly Louis Vuitton print.
Your not Crazy... I would buy a Rivian over this every day
It looks absurdly expensive to produce, and is ugly as sin.
Some people won't "get it", and thats OK.
It's kind of an f'off statement considering the electric mustang looks a lot like a tesla.
I know it can't be, the design has come out too soon.
Yup
ew the rivian design looks 10x worse than the tesla one
Ugly is the purpose. And I fucking love it.
Rivian and Bollinger both.
It looks like a DeLorean.
really? I think it looks so awesome, like a car out of Halo!
I think this really comes down to expectations. Imo, Tesla is a luxury brand. I get that some people feel like the Model 3 is a Tesla for the common man but the common man is either buying used or they're buying something that can be reliably fueled. That being said, and the reason for saying it, in the world of luxury brands idea matters too. The idea that an electric vehicle can compete on most of the spec sheet with a combustion/hybrid engine is sexy to people with futurist enthusiasms because electric things are being pushed as the sexy eco-friendly future right now. Obviously that's all just my own opinions, but I've yet to see much else to explain Tesla's balance sheets (plain incompetence isn't something I'm willing to buy into from the CEO that's working at innovating the astro services market as we speak).
I guess taste really is subjective because this is the best looking truck I have seen in my life
My initial thought was that I could probably sketch this thing in CAD in like ten seconds. Rectangle. Triangle. Extrude. I'm sure the person at Tesla to whom that task was assigned enjoyed that aspect of the design.