This week the first one is Tesla Semi with the first deliveries in focus, but soon the next restart should follow in a much larger segment: According to recently repeated information from Tesla, the Cybertruck will go into early production in mid-2023. In an interview, the long-time head of design Franz von Holzhausen commented on the special design of the steel pickup – and at the same time fueled curiosity regarding Tesla’s next smaller electric car.
Cybertruck should stay like the prototype
At the start of production, the Cybertruck will look pretty much the same as it is now (see photo above), von Holzhausen told the CNBC TV channel in an interview published on YouTube. It was performed in a car museum in Los Angeles, where currently see the Tesla history including several one-offs is. According to von Holzhausen, the Cybertruck should only be a little smaller than the prototype exhibited there.
On the steel pickup, he loves the idea that form strictly follows function, the Tesla designer said. This applies here in two respects. On the one hand, the decision to try an exoskeleton made the flat and very simplified external design necessary, according to von Holzhausen: Such hard steel is very difficult to form, which is why Tesla had to deal with new production methods. In addition, the Cybertruck has become an “incredibly aerodynamic vehicle”.
A German software company had put the Cybertruck in a virtual wind tunnel this summer – with the result that the cd value of 0.39 was good for a pickup, but far from the 0.30 described by CEO Elon Musk as possible. In this respect, Tesla might still have worked on it. However, unlike the last Cybertruck sightings, no exterior mirrors were mounted on the 3D model for the software test. They are usually still mandatory in the series and also face the wind.
The Cybertruck was an opportunity to try something radical in a relatively normal area (i.e. probably the mass segment of pickups in the USA), explained von Holzhausen. At the same time, it is “incredibly functional” and in this respect as good as any competitor’s vehicle or better – with extras like plenty Power delivery to external consumers as with the Ford F-150 Lightning is therefore to be expected. We’ll see how this package is received.
New Tesla as favorite project
The design boss was full of praise and enthusiasm for the Cybertruck. But his real favorite project at Tesla is another vehicle, as he revealed when asked regarding it – but nothing more. “My favorite is the one that’s coming,” said von Holzhausen. But he mightn’t talk regarding that. He probably meant that Tesla that can be produced at up to 50 percent lower costs, which CEO Musk mentioned in October. It might also be a revised or downsized version of the Model 3, because of such Plans at Tesla aimed at lower costs and higher attractiveness was reported this week.
