While Tesla has scrapped plans to reduce the size of the Cybertruck, Elon Musk now says that the automaker is ‘highly likely’ to make a smaller version of the electric pickup for Europe.
Smaller Tesla Cybertruck
Not long after unveiling the Cybertruck prototype last year, Musk started talking about making the electric pickup smaller to fit inside a regular garage.
Earlier this year, Musk made several comments regarding the Tesla Cybertruck and how it will change when it reaches production.
He talked about how owners will need to wrap the electric pickup to get different colors, and he said that Tesla is updating the Cybertruck’s adaptive air suspension.
The CEO was asked what the biggest change is to Cybertruck from the prototype, and he responded that Tesla “reduced the size by ~3%,” made the “center line more level,” and “lowered the window sill height.”
In May, Musk scrapped the plan to make the electric pickup truck smaller after reviewing the design with his chief designer:
Reviewed [the Cybertruck] design with Franz last night. Even 3% smaller is too small. It will be pretty much this size [referring to the prototype].
The prototype that Tesla unveiled is 231.7 inches long, 79.8 inches wide, and 75 inches tall, with up to a 35-degree approach angle, a 28-degree departure angle and up to 16 inches of ground clearance.
It’s similar in size to some of the bigger versions of the Ford F-150, like the one pictured above next to the Tesla Cybertruck prototype.
However, he didn’t close the door to making a smaller version in the future – just not making the first Cybertruck any smaller than the prototype.
Now on Twitter last night the CEO said that Tesla is ‘highly likely’ to make a smaller version for Europe “down the road”:
The CEO didn’t offer any possible timeline on a smaller version of the Cybertruck for Europe.
Tesla currently plans to bring the electric pickup truck to production at Gigafactory Austin late in 2021.
Pickup Trucks in Europe
Pickup trucks haven’t caught on in Europe as they did in North America for several reasons, but mainly due to stricter emission regulations and their size.
The former is not going to be a problem for Cybertruck, which is a zero-emission vehicle, but the latter can indeed be a problem.
While most European markets have modernized their roadways, many major cities are still designed for smaller more compact vehicles and they make pickup trucks hard to maneuver.
It made narrower work vans more popular as work vehicles in many European cities.
Nonetheless, pickup trucks have gained some popularity in recent years and analysts were predicting about 200,000 sales in Europe in 2020 before the pandemic.
That’s a decent market, but it is nothing compared to the more than 3 million pickup trucks that Americans bought last year alone.
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