Oh look, Uber doing something positive for a change, helpin' out the little guy. What an upstanding company!

You're the one that should be disproving the evidence. There is video evidence of the cybertruck being hit with a sledgehammer and not denting and yet here you are stating that the car is going to show door dings and I am supposed to believe you because of a myriad of mildly relevant reasons.

I think my issue was the way your experiences were presented as factual knowledge about a car that we don't have all the info on.

regardless, Musk has stated that there will be color options available and wrap installers have stated that the car will be very simple to cut and install a wrap on the car.

It seems I am not nearly as concerned about the appearance of the vehicle as you are, I am much more interested in the function and performance of it. Like I said in an earlier post, we really won't know until the vehicle is out in a couple years.

You are right. In the end, we are discussing a vehicle that is not in production yet. I will surely wait the 2 years until this is out and then update the thread, rebuking in detail all of bl00's concerns.

Not really but kind of.

got it. I have lurked a bit around here and am still learning the ropes.

thank you, still new so I can't link anything!

I definitely buy my cars to get noticed by females too /s

What does "cold rolled 30 times" mean? Do you know? See, I do, because I have a mechanical engineering degree and a background machining and metal work. I don't think you do, because if you googled it you'd know that it doesn't do anything to affect the finish of steel whatsoever. Every stainless panel you've ever seen on every dishwasher and every refrigerator has been cold rolled. The way you make cold-rolled steel not show every blemish is by embossing so that you don't show imperfections, either small- or large-scale. This is why you see quilted stainless on food trucks.

See, I know the answers to these questions and you could too, with a bare modicum of research. The automotive press has been making much of the fact that the thing's a unibody; okay, so was the Subaru Brat. So's the Honda Ridgeline. So was the VW Beetle. The way you used to get the strength out of a monocoque structure was by welding it; nowadays you might bond it instead. Either way, I don't have to "imagine" what replacing them would be like; I've done unibody work and it's destructive and time consuming.

Putting aside how condescending that reply was, I will also take it that you haven't m̶u̶c̶h̶

any research on the cybertruck besides seeing a couple pictures. I never stated that flat panels are stronger than round, in fact a dome or egg shape would probably be the strongest I believe. What sets the cybertruck apart from other trucks is that it is not body-on-frame design. The ugly triangle shape is what makes it so strong. The flat panels are for manufacturing efficiency. The individual panel strength comes from them being cold rolled, the same steel they use on the SpaceX Starship. They literally cannot stamp the panels because they will break the stamping press.

I also take into account that tesla makes some of, if not the, safest cars on the road and knows what they are doing with strength of materials and design. Maybe not as much with you though with all your jewelry making experience.

I really had to pare the snarkiness of this post back and will just chalk up your reply to not having your coffee yet.

"The polarizing design is the only reason for the design."

While I think that was definitely a goal, there is a huge function in the design. If you haven't yet, check out the motortrend article "How Tesla's Cybertruck Turns Auto Manufacturing and Engineering Upside-Down".

DeLoreans had the same problem: paint allows you to enforce a uniformity of appearance that you don't get from raw metal. Not only that, paint can be reapplied. Stainless? Refinishing involves abrasives. Take it from someone who refinishes stainless steel jewelry - it's an art that is extremely difficult to apply over areas that aren't measured in square millimeters.

Is the steel jewelry you repair cold rolled 30 times? I also will parrot what I said in an earlier comment that since the panels are all flat and unpainted, I imagine replacing them will not be difficult to do.

Absolutely agree. At the same time Ford also announced their electric truck that will be coming out in the future. When you compare apples to apples with electric truck vs electric truck and the tesla comes out ahead it will be harder to ignore.

Get a disposable pie tin, put a dent in the bottom of it, and try to flatten the dent back out. You'll see what I mean :)

1. it is literally bulletproof and can withstand sledge hammer blows. I don't know what else you need to read.

2. I meant more along the lines of the panels will not be very difficult to replace rather than repair. Also how many dents on your current vehicle that you can fix yourself? Very few I imagine, and body work is generally very expensive especially when you add in the paint matching that never quite matches up to your actual paint. Not an issue with stainless steel!

Tesla has such a huge leg up on Rivian that it is hard to see them competing. Best case scenario for Rivian is being bought out by a big manufacturer, otherwise I predict they won't last.

it can withstand a sledgehammer blow and a 9mm bullet... pretty sure it will be way harder to ding than your average vehicle.

While it definitely remains to be seen how many traditional truck buyers will buy into the cybertruck, it will be hard to argue with the specs of having a fast truck, that has good towing capacity, good sized bed, and costs a fraction to power it than a traditional truck.

I definitely fit your first sentence. I don't quite follow what you mean by easy to repair body. I feel like the body will be easy to repair due to the flat panels.

Curious how these comments have aged after you may have had a little bit to think about the design and more information has come out.

As someone ready to pre order the model Y, I was swayed for many reasons. The design, while ugly, is so polarizing and functional that I love it. I am not concerned about scratches since it can withstand a sledgehammer. I am sure they will work out the finger print issue, there is already a lot of talk about how easy wrapping the car will be with the flat panels.

For those unaware, the angular design has a function, both in strength and manufacturing. Motortrend talks about it in an article entitled "How Tesla's Cybertruck Turns Auto Manufacturing and Engineering Upside-Down"

The biggest thing that swayed me was the specs and the price. for 50k before incentives you can get the truck with a sub 4.5 second 0-60 with over 300 miles of range. Seating 6 is also a big bonus as I have two car seats always in my car and the rare time I need to move 3 adults they can all sit in the front. Another huge design feature that sets it apart from every other truck is the locking sliding cover. As far as I know, no other truck has ever had that feature. One of the reasons I was never seriously considering a truck is that the bed cannot be used as a permanent trunk since anyone can come and swipe whatever you have stored there. With the sliding cover you can use it to haul big loads or just hold a stroller. Features that entice me further are the dynamic active suspension, all the nooks and crannies of storage (side sails, at the foot of the truckbed, and the frunk), and the pull out ramp from the tailgate.

with over 250k preorders as of 11/26 I think it will be hugely successful. Not as successful as the model 3 but way more than the predictions in this thread. I also think there will be imitators on the design in the future.

Harris already announced.

Especially coming from a party who clearly needs to make changes.