The Latest Tesla Cybertruck Prototype Looks Even Worse Up Close
When the Cybertruck first debuted, I’ll admit I was intrigued. It looked like nothing else on the roads, a wholly unique take on the pickup truck genre that had grown so stagnant over the years. Did I ever think it would reach production? Absolutely not, especially looking the way it did in that reveal. But Tesla keeps claiming it will and even showed off an updated prototype at the Cyber Rodeo to prove it. The only problem? The new prototype looks bad.
Despite the Cyber Rodeo’s lax guest list, or perhaps because of how strict it turned out to be, few people outside the Tesla faithful got the chance to enter the hallowed halls of the Texas Gigafactory. Luckily, those who did gain entrance (like YouTube channel Cyber Owners) posted their experience online — making it easier for people around the world to gawk at the flaws in the new Cybertruck design.
Even from its on-stage appearance, the fit and finish on the Cybertruck looked bad. The doors are a wholly different color from the rest of the truck, and the entire rear end looks dented, dinged, and scuffed. A closer view, in more even lighting, shows all that and more.
Not only do the panels that form the roof not align, but none of them even seem to be flat or curved to fit each other. Everything is bowed, bent at strange angles, leaving room for massive panel gaps. Hopefully they don’t leak.
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Moving down the truck, things don’t improve. The roof doesn’t line up with the window weather stripping, which doesn’t line up with the window. The pillar, running between the front and rear windows, doesn’t even seem to fully meet the windowsills and the rest of the body.
The A pillar is noticeably scuffed, and the panel gap between the fender and the door is wildly uneven. This angle also shoes off how much darker and warmer-toned the front of the truck is than the doors. Maybe the finish on the outer skins is different between those panels?
The video shows exposed plastic clips, sheet metal bent at odd angles, even areas (like the one surrounding the backup camera) that appear to be held together with packing tape. Some shortcuts are expected with a prototype, but this seems like a step too far. This is meant to be the ”production-ready” version of the Cybertruck, but it seems there’s a lot of work to be done.
