If you know me, you know that I’m probably one of the Cybertruck’s biggest critics. I’m not a hater, or the kind of person who thinks that the government should ban the truck, but I made my case back in 2019 for why I thought it was a bad move. But the industry has changed a lot since 2019, and the Cybertruck might actually be a decent truck for Tesla to be selling in 2024.
I went on to say that looks don’t evolve in a vacuum. Many people try to come up with an innovative new thing when technology changes, only to find out that there were valid reasons that the old thing looked the way it did. I gave the example of some of the first consumer digital cameras, which attempted to depart from tradition because they didn’t rely on film like an old SLR did.
One big thing that helps meet a broad variety of needs is modularity . A standard truck bed serves many differing needs, but if it doesn’t fit yours, you can unbolt it and put a different one on. Or, the company can put a whole different body on the frame, making things like the Chevrolet Suburban on the same platform with most of the same parts.It has a strange bed that most truck accessories don’t work with. You can’t reach over the side and grab things the way you can with a normal truck.
So, it’s really safe to say that the traditional truck market is now very well served. Not only are more traditional trucks available now, but they’re available from companies that traditional buyers are more likely to trust with a truck purchase. So, that market is really well-served by everyone else now. This leaves the market for less traditional buyers open to the Cybertruck to continue to sell well to.