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Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced via Twitter Wednesday afternoon that the automaker will reveal its all-electric pickup on Nov. 21 at an event near the SpaceX rocket factory in California.
Musk has stuck to the sentiment that the truck will be unlike anything the public has seen on the road before. Previously, he compared the vehicle’s cutting-edge aesthetics to the 1980s classic movie Blade Runner, and has since been teasing the pickup alongside references to the film—he even used the “Cyberpunk” name in his nonchalant tweet.
“Well I can’t talk about the details, but it’s gonna be like a really futuristic-like cyberpunk, ‘Blade Runner’ pickup truck. It’s gonna be awesome, it’s gonna be amazing. This will be heart-stopping. It stops my heart. It’s like, oh, it’s great,” said Musk in an interview on Recode’s Decode Podcast, later continuing: “It’s something I’ve been wanting to make for a long time. If there’s only a small number of people that like that truck, I guess we’ll make a more conventional truck in the future. But it’s the thing that I am personally most fired up about.”
The initial teaser photo of the truck was snuck into a presentation at March’s Model Y unveiling where the end titles from Blade Runner played afterward. Most recently, Musk tweeted a video of the film’s opening title scene to clue in on another similarity: the reveal of the Cybertruck will take place in November 2019, the same month and year which the movie was set in.
Tesla had originally hoped for an official unveiling over the summer but later announced that the pickup would need to wait until later in the year before it was shown to the masses. It’s unclear if the reference was planned, but it certainly worked out in favor of the truck’s perceived image. The debut also happens to coincide with the Los Angeles Auto Show where Ford will be unveiling its Mustang-inspired electric SUV.
Currently, exact details of the truck are slim; however, the automaker is quite ambitious about the vehicle’s capabilities. Musk has previously said that Tesla is aiming for a truck that is not only more capable than a Ford F-150 but can also out-perform a sports car like the Porsche 911. Its top-trim model is aimed to deliver between 400 and 500 miles of all-electric range and is suggested to offer an otherwordly max towing capacity of 300,000 pounds—all carrying a hopeful starting price of around $49,000.
Even with the aspiring claims of the truck’s capabilities, other automakers are beginning to encroach on Tesla’s electrified high ground. Ford and GM both have battery-powered variants of their respective half-ton pickups in development, while smaller rival Rivian is becoming better known by the day as it receives huge heaps of cash from investors. As traditional automakers begin to build non-traditional trucks, Tesla may need to push even harder for traction.
The pickup will mark the fourth in-development vehicle that Tesla has unveiled to the public but is not yet available for customer delivery. Presently, the automaker has the Model Y, Semi, and next-generation Roadster in development, all of which are available for reservation.
