Electric cars|The Tesla Cybertruck looks better in real life than in the picture, but it is still such an American device that it is hard to imagine it on the roads of Finland.
Vantaa A new Tesla Center, a modern dark gray building, has been quietly built in Petikko, where consumers will be able to pick up their new Teslas and where they can have their Teslas serviced.
That’s where Tesla invited the media on Friday morning to marvel at its new angular freak, the fully electric Cybertruck pick-up truck.
The event is part of the Cyber Odyssey tour, where Tesla’s people drive the Cybertruck through European cities. Deliveries of the car have only just started in the United States, and there is no information about the start of sales in Europe.
When we arrived, asphalt was still being laid in the parking area and charging stations were installed next to the door. The “showroom” was finished up to the last minute.
“Tesla style”, said Tesla representatives. The most important thing is to keep the wheels turning, even if the fine-tuning is still a bit unfinished.
From new Tesla’s new Model 3 performance had been brought into the fragrant hall, and next to the wall stood the Tesla Optimus humanoid robot that had flown to Finland in first class the day before.
The main star of the day was waiting under the black robe.
First, however, we drank coffee and listened to Tesla’s country manager Sonja Hanskin held a slide show about Tesla’s history, values and how Tesla is, in all respects, a “really great company”.
Then patience was rewarded and the black cloth was pulled over America’s newest wonder.
The Cybertruck is a strange revelation, starting with the world’s largest windshield.
Car is really huge. To strengthen the first impression, the air springs of the car had been raised to the highest position, so that the sharp roof of the car rises almost two meters high.
Cybertruck is 5.7 meters long and 2.2 meters wide. The two-engine, four-wheel-drive model on display weighs just under three tons. Twice as much as a regular passenger car.
On the other hand, it’s good to remember the love Americans have for their big pick-up trucks. The best-selling car in the country, the Ford F-150, is even bigger than the Cybertruck.
It took the HS editor a while to get used to the unique appearance of the car, but seeing it with my own eyes, it looked more pleasant than in the pictures and videos.
The atypical design has divided opinions. For some, the car reflects bold future car design, but for others, it mostly looks like a refrigerator on wheels. Someone on the internet even said that Cybertruck looks like a midlife crisis.
In any case, it is an eye-catching revelation. For example, a well-known American video blogger who owns Cybertruck Marques Brownlee said in his video that no other car he has driven has garnered as much attention.
The body of the car is made of stainless steel, which according to Tesla should protect against rust, dents and scratches – even light bullets.
The steel surface is also proven to collect fingerprints very effectively, which at least didn’t go anywhere with a swipe of the sleeve.
The Cybertruck has a 1.8 meter long platform that can be covered with a moving hood at the push of a button.
In a car in addition to the steel body, there is a lot of new technology and non-standard solutions.
There is no longer any physical connection between the steering wheel and the tires, instead the steering is done entirely electronically with the so-called steer-by-wire technology.
The sensitivity of the steering is adjusted according to the speed, so the car can be turned even in a parking lot with moderate steering wheel movements. Steering the huge car is also facilitated by the swiveling rear tires.
In the interior of the car, attention is drawn to the fact that apart from a few buttons on the steering wheel, there are no buttons or switches at all. The car’s functions are controlled from the large touch screen, right up to changing gears.
The screen also works as a replacement for the rearview mirror, because when the platform hood is closed, the view behind the car is completely covered.
New on the other hand, technology is also untested technology.
The first production batches have already had to be recalled a few times in the USA. First, because of the gas pedal, which could have stuck to the bottom, and then because of the defective windshield wiper, which is also the largest that has been seen in passenger cars.
The stainless steel basket should also be rust-free as the name suggests, but a few of the first customers have reported rust appearing on the surface already within the first months.
A few aesthetic defects were also visible in the present model.
The plastic part of the opening button of the second rear door was missing and the seals of the front container made a grimace when the container was closed.
On the other hand, quality defects that occurred in previous Teslas have improved as production volumes have increased. This is probably the previously mentioned “Tesla style” thinking.
In the minimalist cockpit, all the car’s functions are controlled via the touch screen.
America’s in style, the car is also almost unnecessarily efficient.
The two-engine four-wheel drive model on display has 600 horsepower, which makes the car accelerate from zero to hundred in 4.6 seconds.
There is also a performance model called Cyberbeast, which reaches 100 kilometers per hour in 2.7 seconds.
For a car weighing more than three tons, that’s an impressive, but also dangerous reading.
Lightning fast the steel block has a long way to go before it gets permission to drive on European roads.
The problems start with the surface material. The body of the car is assembled from the thinnest 1.4 mm thick stainless steel plates. According to EU legislation, the protruding part of any car should not be less than 3.2 millimeters thick.
A car with sharp corners and a blunt nose would probably not meet the requirements for pedestrian safety either.
Tesla employees are reluctant to even estimate when the car could go on sale in Europe and what changes it would require to the car.
The market for pick-up trucks of this size is probably small in Europe, while two million pick-up trucks were sold in the United States in 2022.
Tesla must therefore have primarily in mind responding to domestic demand.
Tesla says the current model has a range of 547 kilometers, which is actually somewhat lower.
To drive Cybertruck was not available in Vantaa. It is said that even the Tesla employees who were present have not been able to make it.
In Denmark, a special permit had been obtained to drive the car in traffic, but in Finland Traficom had not received a similar permit.
It must be said that the Cybertruck is a really impressive device. However, many choices seem to be justified more by the pursuit of specialty than by reason.
And common sense isn’t the main thing in pick-up trucks, even though you might think so.
Made for Ford F-150 pickup truck owners the survey only 7 percent of the respondents say that they often use the car to pull a trailer, trailer or other. 63 percent said they rarely or never do so. 70 percent of the respondents said they enjoy recreational driving.
Cybertruck is a car made for American roads and markets, glowing with the American spirit. So it’s no wonder if it exceeds the understanding of a small Finnish person.
The featured model is priced at $81,895 in the US.
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