Tesla looks like it will be launching the Cybertruck with a new wheel cover design. While they look very similar in overall design to the ones seen on the original prototype and subsequent builds, these new covers are much smaller.
When the Cybertruck first debuted in 2019, the original prototype was outfitted with large off-road tires, and equally large wheel covers, with pieces of the cover extending past the edge of the rim and up onto the tire. The wheel covers appeared rugged and matched the overall design of the Cybertruck. This wheel cover design continued into subsequent builds, with the wheel covers still being spotted in recent weeks and months on Release Candidate (RC) builds being tested on public roads, and even on the Production Candidate driven by Elon Musk in August.
The design of the covers did pose some potential problems however. All of the tires had a design that mimicked the wheel cover design, meaning the covers needed to be aligned in a very specific position to line up with the markings on the tires. That extended design with the cover jutting out and over the tire could have also led to one wheel cover flying off while a Cybertruck was driving down a California highway last month.
It could be for those reasons, and more that we don’t know about, that Tesla has shrunk the size of the wheel covers considerably. We first saw these new, smaller wheel covers last week during a drone flyover by Joe Tegtmeyer. Now we have our first up close look at them after they were seen on a Cybertruck Supercharging in Florida.
Cybertruck spotted charging in Melbourne, Florida. Looks like the truck has some aero wheel covers on. pic.twitter.com/z4UBddFPVP
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) October 12, 2023
UPDATE 11:15am PT: Here are more pictures.
Cybertruck with Perelli tires and the new aero caps
Check out the wiper in action also! pic.twitter.com/snnxnGwmGX
— Greggertruck (@greggertruck) October 12, 2023
As you can see the covers are significantly smaller than the originals and appear to only cover the rim, no longer extending past the edge. They also appear to be “flatter” than the originals. Here’s a closer look comparing the original and new covers, and you can see the substantial change in size. The design of the center cap has also changed.
What do you think of this new wheel cover design? Let us know in the comments below.
