Later this evening, Tesla will officially take the wraps off of its highly anticipated pickup truck. The company has been teasing the vehicle for some time now and it appears that tonight’s event will draw even more attention than both the Tesla Semi and Model Y reveals.
Tesla’s yet to be named pickup truck is intriguing for a number of reasons. For starters, and looking at things from a business perspective, Tesla is preparing to enter a lucrative market that could drastically increase the company’s vehicle shipments and set it on a course towards consistent profitability. Remember, three of the top 10 selling vehicles in the United States last year were all pickup trucks.
Beyond that, tonight’s reveal will be exciting precisely because there are still a lot of unknowns surrounding the somewhat mysterious pickup truck. With that said, here’s what we’re likely to see from Tesla’s grand unveiling later tonight. Notably, most of the Tesla pickup truck rumors can be traced directly back to Elon Musk who, we should point out, has a penchant for making hyperbolic statements.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Tesla’s pickup truck centers on how it’s going to look. Musk recently noted that it will resemble an “armored personnel carrier from the future.” And because Musk just can’t help himself, the Tesla CEO has also said that it will be a “really futuristic cyberpunk ‘Blade Runner’ pickup truck.”
Tesla certainly isn’t afraid to take design risks — as evidenced by both the Model 3, Model X, and the Tesla Semi — so there’s certainly a lot of intrigue surrounding the aesthetic of Tesla’s pickup truck.
The company released a teaser image of the truck’s front-end a few months back, but it’s not terribly informative.
About a minute in, we flashed a teaser pic of Tesla cyberpunk truck pic.twitter.com/hLsGsdyuGA
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 16, 2019
Specs-wise, there is an equal number of questions with no precise answers. Though nothing is official just yet, Musk has previously said that Tesla’s pickup truck will boast a range of 500 miles (on the higher-end) and will feature a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup with “crazy torque and a suspension that dynamically adjusts for load.” The entry-level Tesla pickup truck will likely have much lower range, perhaps around 300 miles or so.
Musk has also indicated that the pickup truck will have a 300,000-pound towing capacity, which if we’re being honest, seems a bit insane, if not downright pointless. Musk a few months ago also indicated that the driver’s seat will be big enough to fit iconic wrestler Andrew the Giant who, we should point out, was 7’4 and weighed more than 500 pounds.
Again, Musk is no stranger to wild claims, and he’s made a few more over the past few months that are worth highlighting. Of particular interest is a remark Musk made this past June when he said that Tesla’s pickup truck will be a “better truck than an equivalent F-150 and a better sports car than a standard 911.”
With regards to price, Tesla is aiming to keep it in the $50,000 range.
“I think its got to start at less than $50,000,” Musk said during a recent interview. “It’s got to be like $49,000 starting price max. Ideally less. It just can’t be unaffordable. It’s got to be something that’s affordable.”
Musk added that there will definitely be more expensive variants of the truck but that the company wants to make the entry-level model as low as economically possible.
Tesla’s truck reveal is slated to begin at 11PM ET later tonight, though it’s worth noting that the company’s events tend to kick off much later than planned. That aside, it remains to be seen if Tesla’s pickup truck — with all of its features and performance gains — will be able to lure pickup truck buyers accustomed to traditional trucks like the Ford F-150.
