The name of the game at the SEMA trade-show is to make sure your company’s booth features a car so eye-catching that it that draws people in to not only learn more about your product, but ideally to capture content that gets your company’s name out there. That’s why there are always such wild vehicles at the show, and it’s why I saw so many Cybertrucks. This is a machine that, more than perhaps any other in our lifetime, fills lines on internet blogs, in magazines, and all over social media. While the buzz has slowed down quite a bit since the vehicle launched in November of last year, it’s still not surprising that — in the first SEMA since that launch — the Las Vegas Convention Center was abuzz with the origami truck.
The famous woodgrain Ford Country Squire-inspired Cybertruck was there:
There was software company Oracle’s police car:
There was another police Cybertruck in attendance, this one from Cybertruck upfitter Up.Fit:
Here’s a blacked out Cybertruck from Predator Tires, this one shinier and giving off a bit of an obsidian-look:
Predator also had a purple-ish one:
There was a wrap company using lots of cybertrucks to show off its product:
There was also… this from Chinese automobile technology company Yuxi Space:
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If I had a favorite Cybertuck at the show, it was this turquoise one with fake strakes down the side:
Honorable mention goes to this toy car:
Tbe Cybertruck was the car of the show, though I will say: If I were a company trying to create buzz for my product, I might choose something else. Nevermind the controversial nature of the truck and its creator, Elon Musk — I’d be more concerned about Cybertruck fatigue. Every content creator and their grandmother has purchased a Cybertruck and done wacky stuff to it to pull in eyeballs. I’d avoid trying to play in that space, because it’s a hard one to win.
Instead, I’d maybe try something like this:
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I know what car I’m using for my terrible Robocop remake
Nominated for COTD.
The cars I drew in 3rd grade look exactly like these Cybertrucks, right down to the Crayola colors. This is nothing new.
Wow, a Cybertrukk named “Predator” – just after the president elect.
I would rather see pink Jeeps with dashboard ducks. Cheers to Dip Monkey Garage for the palate cleanser. When Captain Boing-Boing accepts his government position, he’ll have to sell his company to avoid conflict of interest. Right?
Rules are for the poors.
He will not, I don’t think. The whole bit with the presidency and the blind trust was a norm, not a law, designed to show that the presidency was above being pandered to.
Well, we know that it isn’t above being pandered to now.
Perhaps it’s because there’s a Department Of Government Efficiency vehicle parked out in front of their booth, but I just can’t seem to read that name as anything other than “Yucky Space”.
Amazing how doing literally anything to the Cybertruck instantly improves improves the looks.
Still doesn’t make it look, you know, good, but at least a little bit better?
My controversial opinion is that they can look semi-decent if they’re modded tastefully and not in a way that tries to make them look more ostentatious. Of course there’s almost zero overlap between Cybertruck owners and people with an eye for aesthetics. But I have seen at least two.
I saw a flat black one that looked decent. Of course, flat black conceals well.
I have to admit that the blue scalloped CT that David picked as his favorite isn’t too bad. Giving those massive flat sides some texture and depth really adds interest over the boring slabs of gray. I also like whitewalls adding some interest to the otherwise black holes that are the standard tire/wheel cover.
The problem is that fake 3d effects like that will look terrible in motion because it will immediately break the illusion.
A wheel swap and a wrap is the laziest SEMA build possible. I guess that’s par for the course, though, for this lazy ketamine-addled disaster of a truck.
It’s also on Par with 2024, where you don’t even have to pretend to try. Just wrap yourself in a false image and send it. If a company had a sense of humor they could have wrapped a cybertruck with “Idiocracy 2” and worn orange crocs near it.
That was 2017, the wonderful Mitsubishi i-MiEV could have just gotten a wrap and it could have stood in for the original idiocracy vehicle the Gem E4.
Veni, vidi, evomui.
(I came, I saw, I vomited)
Apart from the Country Squire which is witty, the rest are lipstick on a pig.
These are times I miss an old VW with dayglo flower power decals stuck all over, a giant peace symbol on the front, patchouli air freshener, a roach clip hanging off the visor and Mexican blanket seat covers.
And probably a higher possibility of sex happening in the beetle
I think it’s just a higher possibility of not having to pay for the sex
Or pay to keep her quiet afterward.
I like the turquoise one and the Country Squire-esque wrap is kind of fun. The rest strike me as lazy. The majority of Cybertrucks I see on the streets have a wrap. I don’t see why companies think a wrapped Cybertruck is going to get attention when you can see the same thing in a grocery store parking lot. At least the police Cybertrucks added lights in addition to the wrap, I guess?
Here in the rural South, county governments provide facilities with rows of dumpsters to prevent illegal trash disposal. I was not aware that Nevada had a similar program.
God we could so use that here in CA. There are rural roads around me that look like a path through a dump. People just do not care one bit.
I’m sure it helps but unfortunately some people can’t be bothered to make the trip to the dumpster.
Yeah I like the 500 way more. I also have a strong thing for motorcycle engined cars.
Obligatory disclaimer: Elon is a d-bag.
Ok, now I can say that I don’t understand the hatred of these things. To the kind of extroverts who would buy them I say “thanks for having a sense of humor!”
They are the automotive equivalent of wearing a Santa hat when you go shopping.
Just because you might laugh at them, doesn’t mean that they’re in on the joke.
Hard disagree. Santa-hatted people are normally pleasant and seeing them makes my day better. The Cybertruck has the opposite effect.
The hatred comes mostly from the culture of the people who were eager to make sure everybody knew they bought one. There’s also people worried about pedestrian safety and such, but mostly it’s a hatred for the most public drivers of Cybertrucks, which are Elon Stan’ing dude bros.
I guess hating people because of their car choices is just not in my wheelhouse. I like to know something more than that about someone before I make that kind of decision.
Oracle deciding to use a rolling disaster dressed up in modern police attire as their billboard is so very apt. Surveillance capitalism run by a failing legacy company and backed by the state.
How many small-town sheriffs are going to instantly climax in their pants looking at those police versions; thinking about how utterly masculine and authoritarian they would look driving one of those?
How long until millions of dollars of small town money is wasted on this Mad-Max cosplay/poser crap?
I completely agree with you, but if spending money on fragile Cybertrucks keeps those yahoos from buying military hardware to get their rocks off, maybe it’s a good thing.
I guess if our choices are only cosplay/poser crap, or real surplus military gear, then you’re right.
I dream of rationality and civic mindedness, but that obviously left this country recently…
I would rather them buy a military surplus vehicle for pennies on the dollar than a six figure Cybertruck, but that’s just me. Ideally, they’d buy nothing and just nurse their 2010 Crown Vic along for a few more years, but, if spending is going to happen, I’d rather it be the cheapest alternative that gets the job done
Check out the maintenance bill on the surplus first.
Yeah some of the military stuff seems a bit unnecessary , but they get it relatively cheap because it’s often surplus. I guess some people see that as intimidating however for me, I like it in my community because the same reasons I like car insurance. I never want to get into an accident, but if I happen to, then I’m covered.
We have one here in my small city for the SWAT team. It gets used basically exclusively for family photo ops at parades and festivals where kids can sit behind the wheel and climb around inside it.
I have not once seen it out doing actual law enforcement stuff.
Electric police cars don’t seem to be a good play unless you’re going to sit at a charging station all day.
Idk, I talk with the various cops of catchment area often. And the two departments that are what qualifies as a city round here have got Lightnings, and they love them. Realistically they’re driving like 80 miles max on a shift, so range isn’t an issue. And it’s a nice quiet place to play on their laptops while watching traffic speed by. For the Sheriffs, wouldn’t really work though.
And they’re not polluting while idle.
Business idea for donut shops in order to lure in a captive audience.
Perfect for traffic details where ICE cars would just be sitting around idling all day.
So is this the “fake hood scoop” trade show?
Wrapping a Cybertruck is so unimpressive. I’d practically refer to it as counter-impressive.
Tackle something with curves. A Cybertruck wrap is pretty much a grade-school level wrap job.
It’s wallpapering.
Wallpapering is actually pretty hard to do well. It’s kind of an art.
Mostly when you’re trying to match the patterns
And it’s possibly the ultimate test of any relationship.
It’s literally the worst car to showcase your wrap company. Who ever thought using a gang of them in a wrap booth should have their head examined.
“make sure your company’s booth features a car so eye-catching that it that draws people in…”
All of these do the polar opposite for me.
It “catches” your eye on the sharp corners and fucking gouges it out…
No matter what you do with one, it looks like utter garbage.
Or a fancy dumpster
(but the garbage inside is human)
Does most of the outer skin just pop off? Think it’d be interesting for someone to reskin one with a body kit like the old Fieros. Softer edges, maybe some cool molded lines like that Turquoise one with the strakes, add some crazy stuff like door handles…
No, they’re structural.
They are definitely not. They are glued.
The plastic parts are glued. The metal’s welded or attached with structural adhesive (like many vehicles). Quite structural.
Nope, just check drawings of the car, the structure is the alloy casting bolted to the skateboard frame, all the SS parts are glued esthetics.
https://www.wardsauto.com/tesla/cybertruck-s-low-costs-will-save-tesla-millions
“The body is an exoskeleton, which is to say, the body panels are welded together to form the structure of the truck. This is not body-on-frame construction like a conventional pickup truck, nor a collection of panels bolted and welded into a unitized body shell like a typical car or crossover.”
The presence of other structural elements doesn’t preclude structural utilization by the SS panels.
The exoskeleton bullshit is just another marketing stunt from musk that even tesla stopped using on their site.
I think that was a production change. Or I’m completely wrong, but I thought it was originally going to be 3 or 5mm thick (something crazy) structural panels. Changing that would actually be something that would make sense.
Not structural, they are glued on the cast body, you could do that yes.
Cybertruck fatigue. A very real and common affliction.
It starts with cybertruck fatigue, then that became maga musk fatigue.
One can hope.
I purposely didn’t consider a Tesla because musk was a A$$. I bought an EV6 at the end of may. Then he became maga musk and confirmed what I thought about that tool. I hope everyone boycotts anything associated to musk and maga.
Agreed!
So that’s who is still buying these things. Corporations.
Wouldn’t be surprised if Tesla provided loaners just to get them off the lots for a while.
Seeing that Oracle version reminded me that I haven’t heard much from Larry Ellison. Prior to E. Musk, he was a big-mouth in Silicon Valley. Checked Wikipedia and he’s 80. Perhaps he is spending time on his island, Lanai, which he bought after Bill Gates got married there. Compared to Musk, Ellison seems almost to be a charming fellow.
Lately he’s into AI Survellience
Ellison also bought an Italian jet trainer (SIAI-Marchetti S.211), and a demilitarized MIG fighter jet, but wasn’t allowed to bring that into the US.
I’m kind of surprised Musk didn’t learn to fly. Probably a good thing he didn’t.
I mean he’d definitely have crashed by now so who’s to say
According to Isaacson’s biography, Musk got his private pilot license in the 2010s.
I did not know that. Assuming Musk wasn’t blowing smoke up Isaacson’s ass. Skeptical he ain’t.
I like that toy one.
I’m sorry you had to experience that.