If Tesla Cybertruck fails, CEO Elon Musk has another pickup truck plan
Musk knows the upcoming electric pickup is unconventional, but if it flunks, he said Tesla will just build something more traditional.
In some cheeky comments over the weekend, Tesla CEO Elon Musk detailed his backup plan if the upcoming Cybertruck ends up a loser. It's not terribly intricate.
In an interview with Automotive News published Sunday, Musk said Tesla will simply build a "normal" and "copycat" sort of pickup, should the Cybertruck fail. The Tesla CEO poked fun at the segment the Cybertruck plans to invade and talked about the numerous trucks on sale. Market research? That was a big nope from Tesla, with Musk saying the company spent zero time talking to owners of pickup trucks from rival automakers.
The CEO told the publication Tesla simply made a truck that the company thought "was awesome" and acknowledged its unconventional looks. In fact, Musk said the whole idea was to make the Cybertruck into a sort of "futuristic battle tank."
If this isn't what buyers want -- though its reception indicates Tesla may have struck gold -- Musk said Tesla will simply do what everyone else does and build a more typical kind of truck. Seriously, that's the plan, according to Tesla's boss. Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Production of the Cybertruck is meant to start next year, and we now know where Tesla plans to build it. During the automaker's Q2 earning's call, the carmaker said it chose Austin, Texas as the home for a new Gigafactory to build the electric truck.
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