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Tesla Cybertruck: Elon Musk unveils bulletproof electric truck

Starting at $39,900, “Cybertruck” is inspired by “Lotus Esprit S1” from the Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me”.

Tesla Cybertruck: Elon Musk unveils bulletproof electric truck

Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk unveils the all-electric battery-powered Tesla's Cybertruck at Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, California on November 21, 2019. (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP)

Tesla has revealed its first pickup truck the ambitious six-seater electric vehicle “Cybertruck” at an event in Los Angeles.

The all-electric truck was unveiled by chief executive Elon Musk, who instructed workers, including Tesla’s chief designer Franz von Holzhausen, to hit it with sledgehammers and metal balls. “It is literally bulletproof to a 9mm handgun,” he said.

Cybertruck
People take pictures of the newly unveiled all-electric battery-powered Tesla’s Cybertruck with shattered windows after a failed resistance test, at Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, California on November 21, 2019. (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP)

 

Starting at $39,900, “Cybertruck” is inspired by “Lotus Esprit S1” from the Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me”. The Cybertruck comes in three versions: a single motor RWD, a dual-motor AWD and a tri-motor AWD with 250 miles, 300 miles and 500 miles of range, respectively.

Mr Musk had previously said the vehicle would be a “really futuristic-like cyberpunk, ‘Blade Runner’ pickup truck” and the reality was suitably strange and industrial-looking. “Tesla Cybertruck(pressurized edition) will be official truck of Mars. Cybertruck design influenced partly by The Spy Who Loved Me,” tweeted Musk.

According to research firm IHS Markit, the Ford F-150 has been the top-selling pickup truck in the US for more than 40 years, followed by GM’s Chevrolet Silverado.

At the Los Angeles event at the Tesla Design Centre late Thursday, Musk took a dig at Ford, showing a video of a “tug of war” between F-150 and the Cybertruck.

Cybertruck
People take pictures of the newly unveiled all-electric battery-powered Tesla’s Cybertruck at Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, California on November 21, 2019. (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP)

 

In June this year, the Tesla CEO said the truck would start at “less than $50,000,” putting it between the starting price of the Model 3 (currently $39,400) and the Model S (currently $79,990) sedans.

(With input from agencies)

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