Tesla’s Cybertruck Will DESTROY the TRUCK and JEEP Industry

    What do you think of when you hear the word “truck?” Does an image of a rustic, dirt covered truck roaming across the lands of America come into mind? What about the rev of the engine when you start the vehicle or step on the gas? For all truck lovers out there, the era of the truck might be coming to a close.

Telsa has just recently announced and unveiled their truck and it looks foreign, like something out of the Star Wars Universe. There have been much uproar on social media about the looks of the vehicle. People either love the new truck or they hate it. People who love it have already preordered the vehicle and those who hate it or just want to poke fun at the design have flooded socials with memes.

    Putting all the jokes aside, let’s take a look at how this unique vehicle will disrupt the Truck and Jeep Industry. According to Cleantechnica, Tesla’s Model 3 popularity been ranked 6^th out of all cars in the US. In terms of sales, the Model 3 has, by far, outranked all other small/midsize luxury cars (Cleantechnica, 2019). From this data alone it can be stated that Tesla’s electric vehicles have made strides against an industry dominated by gasoline-fueled motor vehicles. Therefore, if Tesla has already established its brand as a competing force within the industry, then it can be inferred that the Cybertruck will garner success.  

 For those who still doubt the success of this truck, the CEO’s latest tweets have shed light on the early success of the truck. According to Elon Musk’s Twitter, 200,000 people have already placed pre-orders on the truck. Production does not start on the truck until earl 2021 (Knowpia, 2019), yet one fifth of a million people are already committed to this unconventional design of vehicle. On top of this, Elon and Tesla has done no other advertising other than their live unveiling and social media posts and tweets. Judging from some of the stats Musk has laid out for us, approximately 42% of people have ordered the dual motor version, 41% have ordered the tri motor, and 17% have ordered the single motor. The price points for each of the vehicles are $39,900 (single), $40,900 (dual), and 69,900 (tri). That is $1,356,600,000 (single) $3,435,600,000 (dual) + 5,731,800,000 (tri) in revenues (assuming the 200,000 that have ordered have the same tendencies as the one given by Elon) for the company! It has not even been a week since the reveal date yet. Although the numbers for their revenues do look great, we still do not know their production costs yet, so profits cannot be discerned. However, what is certain, is that people do appreciate the vehicle for what it is.

    The stats are there, but why does something so unconventional resonate with so many people. Going the unconventional route has never been the safe route, but as some say, “high risks equals high return.” In terms of sales, it seems as if Elon’s “risk” of releasing an unusual car design has and will pay off. Will the same risk pay off if Ford or Jeep were releasing this type of vehicle? It’s uncertain, but part of the reason why this Cybertruck has garnered so much success if such little time is because of the branding. Elon understands his audience and fans and his prolific tweets and activity on social media constantly generates buzz around his name and his company’s (Tesla, SpaceX, etc.). As a result, even if his products may not appeal to the majority of people or if it may receive backlash, people will still gravitate towards it. This is because at the end of the day, people want to be associated around attention, buzz, and controversy.