Musk unveils electric ute to rival Ford F-150

Tesla boss rolls out his long-touted electric Cybertruck in a piece of trademark theatre.

Tesla unveiled its all-electric, battery-powered Cybertruck at Tesla Design Center in California this week. Picture: AFP

Tesla boss Elon Musk aims to take on the US Big Three car-makers on their most prized turf with the unveiling in Los Angeles of his long-touted electric Cybertruck.

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In a piece of trademark theatre, the angular Tesla Cybertruck rolled on stage to the jubilant cheers of brand loyalists and Musk claimed it could outdo the market leaders from Ford, General Motors and Ram.

“For 100 years trucks have been basically the same,” Musk said. “It’s hard to tell which is which.”

He said sustainability required a different approach because more than 1.5 million had already been sold this year.

In a direct attack on Ford’s marketing pitch, Musk said you would need a Cybertruck “if you want a truck that’s really tough” and said the body panels – an eksoskeleton construction unlike its rivals’ ladder frames – were made of super-hard steel also used in SpaceX rockets.

An accomplice with a sledgehammer failed to make a dent and to calls of “let’s shoot it” Musk claimed it could “literally” stop a 9mm bullet, backed up by impact images.

However, a demonstration to show the strength of the side glass went badly wrong when a metal ball thrown at both windows left them cratered and smashed. “I don’t know why it broke now,” said Musk.

Elon Musk says the cybertruck is class-leading in its offroad capabilities. Picture: AP

On other metrics, Musk claimed the truck’s fully adaptive suspension and ground clearance would give it class-leading offroad ability and – in another well advertised goal – better acceleration than a Porsche 911 sports car.

The Cybertruck will be capable of zero to 60mph (96.5km/h) in 2.9 seconds and a film clip showed it leaving a Porsche behind.

At the same time, Cybertruck’s electric driveline will deliver a range of at least 400km and be capable of fast recharging at 250kW.

On the key criteria of towing, another clip showed a tug-of-war against a Ford F-150 and Cybertruck winning while going uphill. The Cybertruck will be able to haul 3.4 tonnes and carry a payload of more than 1.5 tonnes.

Musk delivered on a declared goal of coming in under $US50,000 with a starting price of $US39,900 for a rear-wheel drive entry model.

Other variants with all-wheel drive and multiple motors will cost up to $69,900. Tesla is taking refundable $US100 deposits now and Cybertruck enters production in late 2021.

Elon Musk had previously said the Cybertruck was one of his favourite projects and it tackles a hugely profitable segment relied on by Ford, General Motors and Ram.

Prices start around $US30,000 stateside but high-priced “performance” models such as Ford’s F-150 Raptor have increasingly taken a larger share of sales.

Ford has already moved to counter Tesla with its electric Mustang Mach-E launched last week and is working on a battery powered F-Series for launch by 2022. Earlier this year it invested $US500m in start-up Rivian, which has show prototypes of its own electric pick-up, and GM has similar plans.

Also in the product pipeline at Tesla are a semi-trailer, a mid-size SUV called Model Y, and a revival of the brand’s first model, the Roadster.

However, previous roll-out plans have been plagued by production problems and long delays.