Tesla's Cybertruck design courts controversy but it's brilliant

Tesla's Cybertruck has a design that elicits violently different opinions. And yes, there's plenty of haters. But Mark Wilson at Fast Company takes a shot at the trolls: "Of course the internet is laughing at the Cybertruck. That’s what the internet does. Anything that doesn’t conform to the mundane is memebait." 

Source: Motor1 via Tesla

"It’s the company’s first unabashed run at making an icon that’s as radical as its electric drivetrain," says Wilson. He points to Jonathan Ward, founder of the vehicle company Icon, who's an immediate fan of Tesla's new Cybertruck for the same reason he is: It has a point of view. "That takes balls, and that’s what the industry needs,” says Ward. 

Raphael Zammit is the chair of the graduate program in transportation design at the College for Creative Studies and has worked as a senior designer for General Motors Co., Hyundai Motor Co., and Volkswagen AG. In an interview with Bloomberg, Zammit says of the Cybertruck, “From an intellectual standpoint, it’s ‘no compromise’ to the extreme. These are words that car designers use all the time, but this literally is it."

Zammit notes, "it may be just the most brilliant thing ever as it may be the cheapest vehicle ever to manufacture. Stamping and tooling is extremely expensive, bending glass is extremely expensive. It might be economically amazing for Tesla. Look at details on the exterior of the car, it’s so de-contented."

"I’ve never seen anything that is this raw... A lot of the truck market just wants to be able to say they’ve got the most intense, the most off-road, the most extreme. I can imagine some other name plates that might be jealous," adds Zammit.

Source: Tesla

David Marcus, co-creator of Facebook's currency Libra says, "I love the audacity and courage it took to create a vehicle that looks like it dropped from a sci-fi movie." 

Elon Musk, in fact, referenced Blade Runner as a major design inspiration. So what does Blade Runner's art director, Syd Mead, think of the Cybertruck? Mead told Business Insider that Tesla's Cybertruck is "stylistically breathtaking... [and] has completely changed the vocabulary of the personal truck market design."

Others agree. "I think it's incredible," tweeted Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Dropbox exec David Nash says the Cybertruck, "shows the power of opinionated design."  

Basecamp's Founder Jason Fried adds, "This is what groundbreaking looks like. Yes, the market will be the ultimate arbiter of success, but f**k yeah for taking a major bold and brash step ahead."

The market has spoken. Musk announced a staggering 200,000 people have already put down a deposit on the Cybertruck.

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Sources: Fast Company, Dezeen, Bloomberg, Business Insider