Daniel Golson of InsideEVs went to a Malibu cars and coffee event where Tesla chief designer Franz von Holzhausen showed up with a matte black Cybertruck. To say the ugly monster suffers from some fit-and-finish issues would be supremely kind. While the launch team has its logowear, it remains to be seen if the CyberTruck is ever widely available.
I've been around hundreds of prototype cars in my career, ranging from early test mules to near-production prototypes, and I've never seen an automaker proudly present something of this poor quality, especially not this late in development. It is absolutely baffling to me that Tesla's lead designer would parade around a vehicle in this condition just weeks before deliveries of production cars are allegedly commencing and even more baffling that he'd park it at such a public enthusiast event.
The photos in the article show all sorts of far more than fiddly issues with the production of the truck, but design issues also seem to abound. Designing a very tall, cumbersome truck with terrible visibility is a serious problem. Big trucks and SUVs already obscure short adult pedestrians crossing in front of them.
Perhaps most concerning is how thick the upright A-pillar is from the inside. This prototype's headliner seemed more well-sorted and a bit slimmer than other Cybertrucks I've seen images of, but it still has what is by far the worst forward blind spot I've ever seen in a new car. That triangular window ahead of the main pillar support definitely helps a bit, but it looks legitimately dangerous. The Cybertruck has a short nose and front overhang, but there is so much space ahead of the driver taken up by a long, flat cowl that it can't be easy to see out of, especially when dealing with the super raked windshield and the reflections it creates.
Rear visibility looks awful too, both because of the bed's thick, long fairings and the short side windows. It's unclear whether the Cybertruck has a rear-view camera to be used when the tonneau cover is closed, as it cuts off the view out the tiny rear window. The only camera I noticed at the rear was at the top of the tailgate, and I couldn't tell if the rear-view mirror was of the digital kind. The Cybertruck does have blind-spot cameras mounted in the front fenders, like what you get on other Teslas and cars like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Lucid Air.
The biggest compliment of the truck I saw was that it has 4-wheel steering, which has been around for a very long time.
