Off-roaders mock ill-timed Tesla Cybertruck video
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A Tesla Cybertruck parked in San Francisco. Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images
A video from a Tesla superfan has off-roaders 'round the world laughing as a Cybertruck delicately navigates an unremarkable mountain road in red rock country.
Why it matters: The Cybertruck, already a controversial addition to the off-roading market, suffered delayed deliveries this weekend due to production issues — possibly a problem with the accelerator pedal, Investor's Business Daily reported.
- A video of the purportedly rugged machine daintily creeping around a dirt road at single-digit miles per hour is unlikely to repair consumer enthusiasm after multiple setbacks in the truck's release.
Driving the news: "Watch out Jeep, the future coming through," the account Teslaconomics bragged on Elon Musk's X this weekend, alongside a video of the Cybertruck inching down Sedona, Arizona's Broken Arrow Trail.
- The video immediately got howls from desert off-roaders who are used to watching trucks climb like tarantulas over massive boulders and up rock walls.
What they're saying: "I would literally drive this in my high-roof cargo van," wrote Utah outdoor photographer Nate Luebbe. "This is embarrassing for Tesla."
- "This new genre of Cybertruck fanboys enthusiastically filming their 'car' doing things any other car could easily do is driving me insane," added Australian journalist Alex McKinnon.
To be fair: There is other footage of the Cybertruck negotiating far more extreme terrain, like Moab's notorious Hell's Revenge trail — though the most famous video is essentially a Tesla ad.
- Other clips show the truck on dicier stretches of Broken Arrow.
The intrigue: The video exemplifies a potential cultural mismatch between Tesla's existing market — high-earning urbanites — and the off-roading community that flocks to dusty destinations like rural Utah.
- If Tesla die-hards think the off-roading market could be wowed by videos like this, they don't seem to understand who they're trying to impress.
The bottom line: Off-roading is huge out here in the big rocks, and enthusiasts are generally not disposed to look in awe upon a truck moving with halting fastidiousness over a country lane, no matter how dramatic the scenery is.