Tesla to produce an all-electric pickup

(November 21, 2019)Pickups have increased their share of the light vehicle market from under 13 percent in 2012 to 17.5 percent in 2019. They are the fastest growing segment of the market in the United States. Tesla intends to produce an all-electric pickup.

Tesla pickup is Musk's favorite Tesla vehicle

Recently Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, said: "Probably my personal favorite for the next product is the pickup truck, and we are going to just do an amazing pickup truck.” Musk has used hype terms such as "heart-stopping" to describe the new vehicle. Musk has also said that the pickup will combine Porsche-level performance with utility.

Back in June the Tesla CEO said of the pickup at a shareholder meeting: "Musk reiterated that the Tesla pickup will be more functional than a Ford F-150 but also a better sports car than a basic Porsche 911. (He’s also said he wants it to start at less than $50,000.) Also, it’s tough enough to haul a horse.“We’re trying to create something new and it’s, it’s not just basically a copy of the form factor of everything else,” he said. “But you still want it to be great. It’s very hard. This is a very hard thing.”"

The pickup market is booming and profitable

Last year the top 3 selling vehicles in the US were the Ford F-series, Chevrolet Silverado and Dodge Ram pickups. They also represent the most profitable vehicles for automakers and are expensive.

The pickup market can use an all-electric entry

With an expanding market and profits to be made the pickup market seems ready for an electric entrant. Ford has a forthcoming F-150 but it is only a hybrid and there are newcomers such as Rivian entering the market. Even so Tesla should be in good shape to take on any existing competition and may very well enter the market before the big automakers.

The vehicle is code-named Cybertruck and Musk says the design was inspired by the Blade Runner. A recent Verge article notes: "On Thursday night at 11PM ET, Elon Musk will appear onstage at the Tesla Design Center in Los Angeles to reveal the product he’s most excited about: Tesla’s first electric pickup truck."

Previously published in the Digital Journal