Tesla's bizarre Cybertruck disguise isn't fooling anyone

Joseph Foley
·2 min read
17
A photo of a Tesla Cybertruck disguised as a Toyota Tundra using a wrap
A photo of a Tesla Cybertruck disguised as a Toyota Tundra using a wrap

Tesla is expected to finally launch its science fiction-inspired Cybertruck electric pickup in September. But the edgy, angular vehicle has already been spotted out in the wild – despite some strange attempts to disguise it.

Earlier in the month a broken-down Cybertruck was spotted poorly hidden under a Ford F-150 wrap. Now, the Cybertruck's been sighted trying to pass for a Toyota Tundra. So what's going on? (See our pick of the best car logos for more motoring design inspiration).

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We've previously seen footage of the Cybertruck in a camouflage wrap. Perhaps realising that military camo is probably not the most effective disguise in an urban environment, Tesla now seems to have taken to disguising the pickup as other vehicles, but nobody's fooled.

First, a broken-down Cybertruck was spotted disguised as an F-150, and now videos posted in the Cybertruck Owner's Club's forum show the vehicle impersonating a Toyota Tundra, one of the bestselling pickups in the US.

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People are speculating as to the purpose. Tesla may be trying to disguise the Cybertruck in the hope that it passes unnoticed in the wild until its official launch. But the wraps don't do much to hide the Cybertruck's highly unusual shape.

Another possibility is that Tesla is testing wraps with a view to launching them on the market. The Cybertruck will only be offered with its original stainless steel finish. That means that a wrap will be the only way to customise it. Third parties are likely to launch products, but Tesla might be planning to offer its own. That would be a less surprising move than the launch of a Cybertruck cat tray.

Or it could just be a joke intended to troll rivals, which feels like Musk's sense of humour. Tesla's founder and CEO has criticised the designs of other pick-ups as being "boring", saying that a lack of imagination in the industry had inspired him to work on the Cybertruck (we've since seen a glimpse of some of the Cybetruck's science-fiction influences). Wrapping the Cybertruck to look like other vehicles may be a way of suggesting that its rivals look so ordinary and commonplace that they go unnoticed.