Surprise: More Cybertruck Specs Leak Ahead of Official Reveal
The Tesla Cybertruck is due for an official release next week, but the slow, steady drip of information isn’t stopping. According to forum users in Southern California, the automaker has two Cybertrucks on display at a mall in San Diego, and they claim to have new specs to share.
The users said that the displays surrounding the trucks noted that they have a 2,500-pound payload capacity and 11,000 pounds of towing capability. The truck also appears to be a legit production model, as it lacks the sloppy panel gaps and bodywork we’ve seen in the nearly endless number of spottings posted on the internet. As Inside EVs pointed out, those specs are better than the F-150 Lightning on paper, though recent off-roading videos suggest that the Ford might be better at many other things.
Other marketing materials near the truck mention its “ultra-tough” composite bed, its shatterproof glass, and its "exoskeleton." We’ve seen Joe Rogan shoot the truck with a compound bow, and the automaker showed off a truck that it claimed had been shot with a Tommy gun, though it’s unclear why we’re testing automotive sheet metal with a 1930s bank robber’s weapon.
The Cybertruck’s big day is just a few days away, and Tesla said it plans to deliver ten units to early buyers at the event. Of course, these people are taking delivery of a truck with no officially confirmed specs and no official price, so it’s anyone’s guess what they’ll be getting.
[Image: @dyldebus via X]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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I've been following the Cybertruck since 2019, and I own a Tesla Model Y.
I've gone cold on the Cybertruck lately, because the Silverado EV looks like a better truck for my purposes.
From an engineering perspective, the Cybertruck just a big Model Y dressed up like a refrigerator. But the tonneau cover which blocks rearward visibility is a problem, as is the lack of turn signal stalks and other basic usability features.
I like my Model Y Long Range. For long distance towing vehicle, and a bigger one with longer range to compensate for the 50%+ range reduction all vehicles get when towing boxy trailers would be an upgraded. A a higher tow rating would definitely be an upgrade. Those two upgrades would mean that I could replace two vehicles in my driveway with one do-everything EV. For a long time, I though that the Cybertruck would be that vehicle, and that I'd just tolerate the the styling.
The problem is that that I find Musk's attempts to market the Cybertruck as a tacticool brodozer to be deeply distasteful. Remember that the game here is for Tesla to convince me to pay them tens of thousands of dollars to buy one of their vehicles, and that I dislike tacticool brodozers based on my own personal life-experience. The price/performance that they reveal on November 30th is going to have to be astoundingly good in order to overcome Musk's distasteful marketing of this model.
My old gas truck is on pretty light duty these days, so I can wait a couple more years to replace it with my Forever Truck -- so I'll start shopping for the best EV truck on the market for my RV-towing suburban dad purposes some time after MY2025.
Is the composite bed made by Teijin Automotive Technologies, like the ones used on the Tacoma since the second-gen, and the newest gen Tundra?
The 11,000 lb towing capacity is kind of pointless for a vehicle nobody is going to seriously tow anything with.
Here's an interesting thing I found on the internet.