2023 Was The Year Of The Tesla Cybertruck. I’m Glad It’s Over

The year of rumors, embellishments, and shaky fan videos is coming to an end.

It only takes a minute to check out the dedicated page where all the Tesla Cybertruck-related stories are neatly categorized on InsideEVs. A couple of mouse scrolls later, you’ll see that a consistent chunk of articles dedicated to the controversial pickup were written by yours truly.

Everything from videos analyzing photos that were taken on the side of the road and drone footage that shows the car’s rear-wheel steering in action to images of several Cybertrucks parked next to each other, and official material from Tesla showing how the electric truck drove on slightly uneven roads in Mexico. I’ve written about all of this and many more.

And I’m glad it’s finally over–at least where speculation and sketchy sources are concerned–because the Cybertruck is finally being manufactured and delivered to customers across the United States.

Gallery: Tesla Cybertruck

But the previous two paragraphs would simply not exist if the Cybertruck was the product of any other car brand that could now be described as a legacy automaker. That’s because Tesla doesn’t do normal car launches.

It doesn't fly journalists out on "press trips" to exotic locales to test their cars for a few hours at a time, hoping for a favorable first-drive review. Tesla doesn't loan out cars to journalists anymore, a practice it ended sometime around when the communications team was dissolved. Granted, the automaker will work directly with some outlets and influencers, but certainly not all of them. And Tesla doesn't answer questions from reporters, pretty much ever. 

That’s both good and bad at the same time. It’s good for customers and regular folk who just want to feel like they’re a part of the development process. At Tesla, reservation holders and more recently stockholders could participate in new model launches next to engineers, designers, and high-ranking executives. The press? Not so much, given Elon Musk’s aversion to journalists inquiring about sensitive topics.

Traditional carmakers, on the other hand, rely on established press entities to relay information to the public. More often than not, experienced journalists attend carefully crafted and choreographed vehicle launches meant to show everything that’s good about the car and the company behind it.

Tesla doesn't operate that way. Even the Cybertruck delivery event could be described as amateur hour, with Musk jumping in the bed of the truck at one point during the live stream only to become almost invisible to the cameras because there wasn’t a single light pointed at his face. (Seriously, Tesla, hire one lighting guy next time.) 

But people were cheering anyway. That’s why we decided to run some stories that would otherwise be ignored if there was another marque in the headline. People wanted to get all the information because Tesla wouldn’t give it to them, not even to those who paid money to help it build the damn thing. 

Journalists don’t cheer at launch events. They ask questions that need real answers, not insipid “we make the best cars” replies.

This does have its drawbacks. There's a lot we would love to know about the Cybertruck's 48V architecture, the drive-by-wire steering, the range extender battery pack, how repairs to the stainless steel body will work, and so much more. Those are industry-changing technologies and things owners will definitely care about. We'd love the chance to talk with the very smart people at Tesla about how they'll work. Unfortunately, if you're not in the Muskian inner circle, you rarely get that chance. Instead, you wait for customers to find out on their own, or for the answers you want to get posted on X. 

What I’m getting at here is that any other carmaker in this world would put a lot more effort into giving out official information and it wouldn’t get away with its CEO writing nonsense on a social media platform he acquired just to make it a trumpeting device. It wouldn’t rely on the community to do the work for it because it wants to make sure the correct details get into the hands of prospective customers.

But that's Tesla for you. And as frustrating as it is for us, the company has no trouble generating publicity.