lol, no. I actually saw one at a client's and beside being uglier than what a 5yo would be able to draw, it was also built like shit. I'm talking about going to the hardware store for aluminum panels and bend them, cut with scissors and some soldering job here and there kind of bad.

thank god these monstruosities were forbidden in europe

Not forbidden. Tesla didn't even try to have them declared road safe so a buyer would need to get the permits himself.

I find the auto market stale as well. However the CT could have been so much better if it sought to answer that demand with a positive vision rather being a reactionary revolt. Somehow a food critic has given the best critique that I've seen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEcZSM6xS80

I'm enjoying the video, thanks!

A lot of what he's going on about with respect to the Cybertruck looking old is that it was—intentionally or not—an exercise in retro-futurism, not futurism. Elon attempted to make a truck that Schwarzenegger would have driven in the 80s. Or as he showed, the M577 Armoured Personnel Carrier from “Aliens.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrofuturism

As Wikipedia points out: As opposed to futurism, which is an artistic movement anticipating upcoming technological advancements, retrofuturism is the remembering of that anticipation. So Cybertruck is actually a nostalgia product. "Remember when we thought that manly pickups would be stainless steel and low-poly and drive around silently?"

So, nobody looking for the truck of the future wants a Cybertruck. It does not represent what we anticipate the future will look like.

I'll stop here, because if I point out that the Roadster circus stunt featured a flying car with gas thrusters at night that was an exercise in retro-futuristic nostalgia for Blade Runner, this will turn into an essay.

I'll take boring sameness over sharp pedestrian-mangling edges, thanks.

This is a false binary.

The design aesthetics for automobiles can be stale and this could also be a terrible, unworkable, ugly design.

I actually think that it looks fun and interesting. It appeals to my personal aesthetic. Yes, I also like brutalism.

The problems with the cybertruck for me are (in no particular order) build quality, Elon's politics, low range, annoying bed size/shape, and size of the vehicle (too wide).

Aesthetics are personal, and you can think something ugly, but that doesn't make it objectively so. Even if it's a widely held opinion. It does perhaps make it a poor decision from a marketing standpoint.

I really agree with you here. I would never buy one (vw buzz is more my style) but I loved it in a weird “thank god something new and unique” way. Like my love for good brutalist office buildings even if I’d never want to live in a brutalist home.

The amount of hate it gets has been yet another clear indication to me just how annoyingly tribal people are. It shows you’re in the in-group and definitely-a-righteous-good-guy if you hate on the cybertruck. Not hating on the cybertruck is basically admitting you’re a fascist (I’ve had a friend literally tell me this non-jokingly). I think that’s really what 80% of the hate comes down to.

Hating the cybertruck might be tribal for some people, but definitely not everyone. I thought it was stupid and ugly from the moment it was announced, and I still think it's stupid and ugly, and it is demonstrably bad at the job of "being a truck".

You can celebrate Tesla for trying something new while still hating the actual thing that they tried for being bad.

I remember feeling that it was ugly when it was initially released, and then saw repeated messages on HN from people who said it "looked better than you think in person". I assumed they were right, and that it would actually come out for usd40k and have seating for 6.

Sadly, all three of my assumptions were false.

Interesting that you mention the VW Buzz. It failed on specs and price, but many people love the design. Why? Because it is a happy car.

I would argue people don't want anything new, but a different and better direction. In Europe Renault is doing really well with the Renault 5 and Twingo. People are tired of depressing, bland and angry vehicles, and the CT just doubles down on what people already hate about modern cars.

The Ioniq 5 leans into the same aesthetic too and that car is everywhere now, so it's not like there's anything fundamentally keeping that from working.

The Oscar Meyer weiner truck is also unique

Tesla's mission was never to built "something crazy and different". In fact it was kind of the opposite: when Model S came out, Tesla showed the world that EVs don't need to look or drive differently than traditional cars, because all EVs which came before Model S were either looked like a concept car or a small toy-like car. Tesla continued this success with Model 3 and Model Y. Then they started deviating from their mission and came up with Cybertruck. All they needed to do was to show the world that an EV truck can be just as practical and capable as a gasoline truck. They didn't need to go crazy with the design, make it bullet-proof, choose stainless steel which made the manufacturing harder... They shot themselves in the foot.