Here’s what the Tesla Cybertruck almost looked like

The design of the Tesla Cybertruck has drawn a lot of conversation, positive and a lot of negative, since it was first unveiled to the world back in 2019. However a new behind the scenes photo has been shared giving us our first glimpses of what the Cybertruck could have looked like.

The photo comes from Walter Isaacson, who is getting ready to release his biography of Elon Musk. Writing a biography gave him almost unfettered access to Musk, and on one occasion in 2017 Isaacson was with Musk when he, along with Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen were working on the Cybertruck at the company’s Design Studio in Los Angeles. In a recent Squawk Pod podcast Isaacson revealed Musk wanted to create something unique, and not boring like conventional pickup trucks.

“About 6 years ago, he [Elon Musk] is sitting there with Franz and they’re looking at a Ford truck. He [Elon] says these things are boring. He doesn’t like to be bored. He puts up things from movies, from sci-fi, from video games, and everybody is pushing back on him at this meeting. He finally says stop it, we’re going to do it. We’re going to make it edgy.” 

After this quote was published to Twitter by Sawyer Merritt, Isaacson added a little more detail, revealing that on one night in 2017 Musk decided the truck was going to be made of stainless steel. Isaacson also shared how Musk wanted to be bold and surprise people with the design. While that certainly happened with the ultimate design, Isaacson  shared a photo giving us our first look at some of the early design sketches for the Cybertruck. (h/t: @klwtts)

As you can see they were all radical departures from what is considered a conventional pickup truck design, and the influence of sci-fi movies and videogames is quite evident. What is interesting is that several of them are actually quite close to renders created by fans before the Cybertruck was unveiled.

Just like the actual Cybertruck design, these sketches have drawn a mixed reaction from Tesla fans. Some say all of these sketches are better than what is about to be delivered, while others say Musk made the right choice with the final design.

What do you think? Which design do you prefer? Let us know in the comments below.

Are you buying a Tesla? If you enjoy our content and we helped in your decision, use our referral link to get C$2,600/US$2,000 off your purchase.
Previous Article

Tesla Q2 2023 earnings call: What to expect

Next Article

Powerlink activates ‘Big Bessie’: 50MW/100MWh Battery Storage System with Tesla Megapacks

You might be interested in …