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Despite its growing pains, electric automaker Tesla continues to look toward the future of what its product line entails, and one particular vehicle that CEO Elon Musk has expressed a high level of interest in is a world-beating pickup truck. Over the weekend, Musk was interviewed on Ryan McCaffrey’s Ride the Lightning podcast where he continued to hype the soon-to-be-unveiled cyberpunk stuff-hauler, including making bold claims of unrivaled capability and performance.
Without hesitation, Musk’s claims went straight for the neck of America’s best-selling truck: the Ford F-150. He claims that the Tesla pickup will be more capable than Ford’s long-standing workhorse, a fearless assertion that raises the public’s expectations of just how well Tesla’s offering might compete.
“It’s going to be a truck that is more capable than other trucks,” said Musk during the interview. “The goal is to be a better truck than an F-150 in terms of truck-like functionality and be a better sports car than a standard [Porsche] 911. That’s the aspiration.”
Additionally, while Tesla has undeniably shown the maturity of its battery technology to the public, that hasn’t stopped other automakers from readying their own electrified automobiles to compete in the ever-popular pickup truck segment. Ford has confirmed that it will be building an all-electric F-150, and GM naturally announced that it would compete head-on with its Detroit-based opponent. Even newcomer Rivian will look to do battle with Tesla, recently engaging in a $500 million partnership to lend its skateboard platform for future Ford product offerings, shortly following a separate round of investments led by Amazon which totaled a sizable $700 million.
Perhaps an even more bizarre, yet intriguing claim is that while out-trucking trucks, the Tesla pickup will also out-sports car the Porsche 911. These two markets typically operate independently of each other, begging the question if Tesla can cut into the sales of both vehicles, or if its future offering will instead be a dull-bladed Swiss Army knife of features.
Musk later goes on to talk about the expected price of the Tesla pickup, stating that the automaker must be attainable to achieve success.
“We don’t want [the pickup] to be really expensive,” said Musk. “I think it’s got to start at less than $50,000, it’s got to be like $49,000 starting price max, ideally less. It just can’t be unaffordable.”
The CEO has previously spoken on the importance of affordability to Tesla’s survival. After launching its Model 3 electric sedan, Musk noted that demand for the EV was “insanely high”, but a fundamental problem surrounded the cost of the car, despite it being the most affordable in the automaker’s lineup. Should Tesla look to sustainably sell its pickup in a world where Ford is determined to stay on top and Rivian is rivaling its high-tech customer-base, Musk knows that cost must be taken into heavy consideration.
Tesla expects to reveal its pickup truck concept later this year.
