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Tesla Has A Plan If Cybertruck Sales Bomb

Aug. 03, 2020 8:00 AM ET by Jay Traugott Trucks / 15 Comments Something more in line with mainstream truck design. The Tesla Cybertruck looks unlike anything else on the market, pickup truck, or otherwise. This was very much done on purpose because Tesla CEO Elon Musk has outright admitted he didn't care about what customers wanted in a truck. He just wanted to create something cool. No doubt this approach has a long list of risks, but the payoff could also be huge. Speaking to Automotive News about the Cybertruck, Musk revealed that he didn't do the normal customer research that mainstream automakers undertake before building a new model. "Customer research?" he said before bursting into laughter. "We just made a car we thought was awesome and looks super weird. I just wanted to make a futuristic battle tank - something that looks like it could come out of Blade Runner or Aliens or something like that but was also highly functional." Tesla Tesla Tesla Traditional pickup truck buyers aren't likely to be convinced, but Musk appears to be looking beyond them by attracting those who wouldn't have normally even considered buying a truck. Like him, they just want something cool and different. There are currently an estimated 620,000+ Cybertruck pre-orders (Tesla stopped updating its reservation tally), though this doesn't mean all will translate to sales. This is, however, a strong sign the Cybertruck's unconventional design is winning people over. But what if the Cybertruck turns out to be a complete sales failure? What if the initial launch excitement dies down before the first examples begin rolling off the assembly line at Tesla's new Gigafactory currently under construction in Austin, Texas? Tesla Tesla Tesla "It can be a better sports car than a Porsche 911, a better truck than an F-150, and it's armored and looks sort of kick-ass from the future. That was the goal, recognizing this could be a complete failure," Musk said. "But I wasn't super worried about that because if it turns out nobody wants to buy a weird-looking truck, we'll build a normal truck, no problem. There's lots of normal trucks out there that look pretty much the same; you can hardly tell the difference. And sure, we could just do some copycat truck; that's easy. So that's our fallback strategy." It's also a risky strategy but Musk loves taking risks. He didn't get to where is today without doing so. "If they like the Cybertruck, cool. If they don't, yeah. We're not trying to play some marketing game. We're just trying to create products that people will love." Tesla Tesla Source Credits: Automotive News

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