The Tesla Truck
Monstrosity or Marvel?
If you haven’t seen this clip from the Simpsons, check it out:
In the episode, Homer discovers a long lost relative who runs a car company and who puts him in charge of invigorating the line up with something new and different. So what does Homer do? He builds a Homer. A car designed just for him that is out of whack with the market.
Sometimes, some things give you that visceral reaction that they might not work out as planned. The boxy truck does remind me of a toy monster truck like the dozens of different toy cars I’d play with as a kid. It has that quality to it. But some other things feel like they’re inefficient or will cause issues. Maybe it’s a visibility issue, or aerodynamics, or load capacity.
It also isn’t necessarily a bad thing that the concept looks foreign. This could look at place in Mad Max or on Westworld. Maybe Tesla sees a different market than consumers. Automated industrial or military fleets come it mind. In those cases, maybe you’d have a hardened version of the truck.
Would I want one? No. Am I a connoisseur of fine cars? No. The car has a bit of a Pontiac Aztec vibe going for it. That said, there was a group of drivers who preferred Aztec’s. My brother was one, as was Walter White.
Regardless of whether you think the Tesla Truck is a monstrosity or not, Tesla did accomplish one thing. It made noise. It did something different. That’s commendable. I have no clue how the market will respond.
