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Tesla Cybertruck: Elon Musk hints at making smaller version of the electric pickup truck

Elon Musk is hinting at Tesla making a smaller version of the Cybertruck electric pickup truck in the future. He didn’t explain how they would make it smaller.

Last week, Tesla unveiled its highly anticipated “Cybertruck,” the firm’s first electric pickup truck, to mixed reviews.

The design of the vehicle is just as futuristic as Musk warned prior to the event, but it still surprised many and remains polarizing.

Design aside, many were impressed by the specs and pricing of the Tesla Cybertruck, which starts at only $39,900 before incentives and has up to 500 miles of range.

In many ways, Musk kept his promise that the Tesla pickup truck would cost less than $50,000 and have better specs than the Ford F150.

Tesla never confirmed the dimensions of the Cybertruck, but Musk said on stage that it is roughly the same size as the Ford F150.

Now on Twitter, Musk says that long term, Tesla could make a smaller version of the Cybertruck:

The CEO didn’t offer a clear timeline nor any detail on what a smaller version of the Cybertruck would look like.

Smaller pickup trucks are a huge segment in the US, with vehicles like the Toyota Tacoma, Nissan Frontier, and Chevrolet Colorado selling in good numbers.

Those smaller vehicles are often referred to as “small” or “mid-size” pickup trucks, and they often feature a smaller bed (4′ feet to 5 feet) and/or a smaller cabin — generally still seating five, but with much less room in the back.

Electrek’s Take

With the unveiling of the Tesla Cybertruck, I thought that if Tesla had a “one more thing,” it would be a plan to build different electric vehicles on the same platform as the pickup truck.

But now we know that it’s not happening because of Tesla’s novel way of building the pickup truck, which basically consists of the frame of the vehicle also being the body of the vehicle.

It means that there’s no room for changing the form factor and keeping the platform.

However, Tesla can still leverage most of the work for the Tesla Cybertruck and tweak a few things to make it smaller, like a smaller bed and cabin.

I think that could turn into a very interesting product.

On the low end, Tesla could maybe release it for around $35,000, which would be another important cost improvement and open the truck to an even wider market.

But I’d be particularly curious to see what it would look like on the high end. The Cybertruck Tri-motor already has impressive performance with 500 miles of range and 0-60 mph acceleration in 2.9 seconds.

A smaller version of the truck could likely beat that.

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Avatar for Fred Lambert Fred Lambert

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