Comment by whatshisface
7 years ago
Tesla doesn't have the manufacturing capacity to sell a truck to everybody, and people that love something are willing to pay more than people who only mildly like something, so it makes sense that they would design a highly polarizing truck that a few people loved but everybody else hated. It's reminiscent of the economic model of fursuit manufacturers.
I 100% disagree, and believe what you're doing is the classic English Major grasping for meaning where none was implied.
I think what we're seeing is what happens when there is no one around to say 'no' to a company. Tesla is being fed, by everyone in at least the US, that they are the future and are prophets of what is to come.
So you take the attitude of 'I can do nothing wrong' and add a dash of Musk's inherent God-Complex, and mix it into the culture there.
And this is what you get.
That's my theory.
This is absurd. Tesla has had a period of danger of bankrupting every two years for its entire existence. Each of which they pulled out of by doubling deliveries.
They’re quite possibly the only car company who has had actual skin in the game in recent years.
The rest of them just went begging to Daddy (Congress) when they got themselves fully fucked.
Your notion that GM, Ford, etc are somehow living in “the real world” seems willfully ignorant of history.
I literally said nothing about GM, Ford or the rest. I didn't even imply anything about them. Who are you replying to?
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To say nothing of Toyota, Honda, Mazda, many German manufacturers... amirite?
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This has baked in assumption that it will not sell. Even if everyone thinks it's fugly there are a lot of use cases where it will be a perfect fit.
The average consumer of a truck cares about the looks. Unless the Cybertruck allows buyers to address a use case that is so compelling that they're willing to excuse the looks, Tesla is not going to sell many of these.
Maybe Tesla is banking on luring people who don't usually buy trucks, or that truck buyers are so hungry for an EV that they'll go for it. But someone who doesn't usually buy trucks, would just buy a Model 3 or Y.
Traditional truck buyers tend to be fiercely loyal to their brand so they'd probably be more likely to wait for EV versions from the favorite truck brand.
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No, I actually believe the opposite. I think it will sell like hotcakes, and be the status symbol of new-age yuppies for 2022.
But only because of the cult-like following of Musk and Tesla.
So I guess, it's a chicken an egg question with this thing. Will it be popular because of what it is, or will it be popular because of who made it.
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Like 3500 lbs carry capacity.
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Are you really going with the "they made it ugly on purpose to avoid selling too many of them" defense? Come on just because this is tesla doesn't mean you need to be realistic. It's a multiplia, someone had a brain fart and we end up with a fugly. It happens.
What? Its like a delorien and an el camino had a baby. Its glorious! I think makes me wan reread all my favorite cyberpunk.
Cyberpunk was supposed to be a fictional dystopia.
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Elon literally said as much during a previous earnings call. They were going to make it polarizing and then walk it back to a more conservative design if sales were too low.
Interesting. Honda did the same thing with their late entry into the pickup market, the Ridgeline. The first generation (2006-2014) was a polarizing design. (But I liked it.) The second gen (2017-present) looks more mainstream and is a bit more functional but lacks the disruptive panache of gen 1. I like it less, but actually bought one. So who knows what will happen with Tesla. Maybe its weirdness will soften into something more sustainable given time.
You realize for every person who thinks it’s ugly another things it’s fucking awesome? Yes, I think it looks fucking awesome and can’t wait to buy one. Also my friends at work felt similarly.
Weird how some people have different opinions on subjective matters right??
Judging by responses here, it is more like 1 person who finds it awesome for every 9 people who find it ugly. Otherwise you are right.
Not that it isn't fugly but I think they purposely do not want it to look like any other pickup because their target market includes a lot of people who don't like the image pickups often project.
A well compensated white collar professional will get judged hard for driving a pickup in some social circles and I think this styling is to help get around that.
> A well compensated white collar professional will get judged hard for driving a pickup in some social circles
Is this a fact in (I'm assuming) NorCal?
I'm in one of the parts of the country where everyone drives pickups, so it kind of boggles my mind.
Does no one tow or haul things there?
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Judged for driving the WRONG type of pickup. Ford Raptors are quite popular with techy car folks cause they're "performance vehicles" so it indicates you aren't the wrong kind of person.
Also the older the truck, the more OK it is (ironic considering older trucks are horrible on gas mileage) because then its a quirky hipster thing.
Suppose thats kind of the point you're making though, they're building a pickup that has indicators that its OK for "classy" people to drive.
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> A well compensated white collar professional will get judged hard for driving a pickup in some social circles and I think this styling is to help get around that.
I think Tesla could've met that desire without making the truck look like a low-polygon model from a teenager who just learned to use Blender.
Tesla's design language from it's other models could have been smartly applied to a truck design and they would've had a winner.
I'd be curious to see a definition of "in some social circles". In particular, I'd like to see what parts of the country those social circles exist in.
Because I'm in Dallas, and wealthy white-collar professionals driving big pickup trucks is pretty normal here. I could point out several in my company's parking lot.
The kind of people who are worried about the image driving a truck will project upon them simply don't buy trucks. They'd rather buy a model Y or a Model X anyway.
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Economics 101. Any producer would rather sell a tenth of the units at ten times the cost. This is one way to do that.
>>> Any producer would rather sell a tenth of the units at ten times the cost
* 10 times the PRICE. 10 times the cost means taking on 10 times the risk if units don't sell, while keeping the same reward (profit). :)
I'd rather sell 100% at 10x the cost than 10% at 10x the cost. What's the benefit of deliberately reducing demand? Why not sell 10% at 100x instead of 10% at 10x by producing something that actually appeals to more, and is desirable by more?
Is ugly because it’s a popular opinion and everybody needs to call it the “ugliest vehicle ever” to make a social splash
This is probably the most accurate statement in this whole thread.
They made the look polarizing and a bit extreme for free PR. For the first few years after launch, every time it's seen on the road, people will talk about whether they love it or hate it. If they made it look like the F-150, most people wouldn't even notice.
For what it's worth, the designer of the Renault Twingo (another polarizing design) said something similar way back in the day. Better to design something 20% of people love and 80% of people hate than design something everyone just thinks is okay.
Wow, that is not the analogy that I would have first chosen.
That's basically what Bob Lutz said about the Dodge Ram redesign in the 90's