Tesla Cybertruck spotted in matte black for first time – wraps incoming?

Tesla’s Cybertruck is finally hitting the road at the end of this month, but it was spotted today in a special color – matte black, the first time we’ve seen the Cybertruck in anything other than basic unpainted stainless steel.

We’ve technically seen the Cybertruck with other wraps, but those were mostly camouflage or jokes to make it look like another truck. The appearance of these wraps fueled speculation that Tesla might offer wraps when the Cybertruck is released, even though none of the ones we’ve seen yet have seemed like they would see public availability.

But now we’ve seen an actual wrap that someone might not be embarrassed to drive it in (well, beyond the basic level of embarrassment from driving a triangle in the first place), and it finally gives us an idea of what the truck might look like on the road, in some color other than silver.

The matte black Cybertruck was spotted in Santa Monica, driving by a “Teslas & Coffee” event this morning, and videos were posted to various social media and to a thread on cybertruckownersclub. It was driven by Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s design chief, who lives nearby.

Originally, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that “Cybertruck can have any color you want, so long as it’s nothing.” And in fact explicitly said that Tesla would not offer wraps, at least “at first,” but added that there are plenty of third-party installers who would be happy to install a wrap.

But now the Cybertruck is finally nearing production, with initial deliveries coming at the end of this month after being pushed back several times from its original date of late 2021. And it looks more likely that Tesla may offer wraps.

Tesla recently started installing their own wraps on Model 3 and Model Y, though they are quite pricey at a starting price of $7,500. This is due to Tesla’s use of more expensive PPF film, rather than cheaper vinyl film, because it is thicker, has a longer warranty, and better protects the paint underneath than vinyl does.

Cybertruck should be easier to wrap than Model 3/Y, because its relative lack of curves will make installation and cutting of the material much simpler. However, it is much bigger than those vehicles, so more material will probably be required to wrap it.

Further, the truck doesn’t have paint underneath at all – so using more expensive colored paint protection film may not be necessary, and maybe vinyl would be enough. But speculation has suggested that these wraps would be available within six months at a price of $8-12k, suggesting that PPF would be used.

We’re not sure if the wrap seen today on the Cybertruck was PPF or vinyl, and either way, it’s likely not “production spec” – and whether Tesla is even going to do production wraps after all. Maybe it was just a one-off because Franz liked it.

But this first appearance of a wrapped Cybertruck, combined with Tesla’s recent shift to installing its own wraps, does give us more indication that wraps may be available.

What do you think? Will Tesla offer factory wraps? Does the Cybertruck in the video look better to you? What color would you want to get a wrap in? Let us know in the comments.