The announcement that Tesla Motor Corp is discontinuing the Cybertruck, should come as no surprise to anyone. This 3020 kilogram monstrosity, apart from being obnoxiously huge, was also obnoxiously expensive with a sticker price of US$82,490. This of course raises the obvious question:
Who was this for?
The answer, isn't immediately obvious until you realise that the Cybertruck was never really intended as a work vehicle but purely as a Veblen good; for the sole purpose of showing the world that you could afford a Cybertruck. When viewed in that light, Cybertruck and the form that it takes, makes perfect sense.
For context, I think that the ultimate embodiment of a cool ute, is the 2008 Ford Falcon XR6 Ute on steel wheels.
- wheelbase of 2838mm.
- width of 1868mm.
- kerb weight of 1704kg.
And most importantly, I can lie flat in the tray bed.
The Tesla Cybertruck:
- wheelbase of 3635mm.
- width of 2032mm.
- kerb weight of 3020kg.
And most importantly, I can NOT lie flat in the tray bed.
As far as function goes, the Cybertruck can not fit me lying flat, and weights more than 3 tonnes. The function of the Cybertruck was clearly therefore, not actually as a work vehicle but rather to cosplay as a work vehicle by a rich geeky type who likes the idea of a Ford F-250 but not the cultural connotations therein. This then is the reason why the form was dictated in the way that it was.
The jagged edges are deliberately designed to look distinctive but more importantly, visually offensive. This is in no way a pretty car. This is in no way a sexy car. The design language of the Cybertruck is in my mind, similar to the reason why skate stoppers are put into municipal concrete benches and also why municipal benches, or seating at railway stations is deliberately designed to be uncomfortable. This falls into the realm of hostile design.
In the context of public spaces, hostile design has the telos of making people uncomfortable. This means that they will not linger and hang around for very long. That's important if you want to move many people through shared public spaces, or if you want to move them on entirely. In the context of the Cybertruck, it's telos is identical; by design, the Cybertruck is specifically supposed to make other people uncomfortable. The signal being sent to the world is that you are not like me and do not belong here.
This of course assumes that the Cybertruck was actually intended to be delivered en masse. According to corporate filings, Space X purchase $131,000,000 worth of Cybertrucks. With an internal list price of $74,990, this means that there should have been about 1740 of the things actually built and delivered. Given that nobody is actually going to check if SpaceX has 1700 Cybertrucks and given that $131,000,000 is not particularly a large amount of money in comparison with a turnover of $14.6bn, this looks like a handy little money laundering operation.
For context, I live in Australia. The number of Cybertrucks actually delivered here was 0. To be fair, I have no idea how many orders were placed here and I certainly have no idea how much coin was laid down but given that Tesla Motor Corp has a distinct history of refusing to refund deposits, I would expect that everyone who thought that they might be getting one, has just lost their money. In the olden days, we'd have called that 'theft' but Tesla Motor Corp calls this 'non-refundable in standard cancellation scenarios'.
Also when you consider that the ostensible reason for cancelling Cybertruck is to switch production to Cybercab, which is purely intended as a robotaxi which will only be available to rent, this merely serves to prove that Tesla's view of the general public is nothing more than an extractive resource.
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