OT: seen a cybertruck on the road?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by dddd

In both cases, an aesthetically-challenged, but very important and practical new vehicle design needed to be brought to market under a sort of fun, uniquely-stylized, but short-lived guise or narrative, to distract future buyers from the shock of an inherent "econobox-cheap" (or Prius-practical) sort of aesthetic.

Like the New Beetle...think 'some' are trying to psychoanalyze The Thing...just a fun little car...Not much more..

As the the CT...pretty sure, no, really sure I'll NEVER buy anything 'Tesla'...

[kppolich]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Tesla had a 'policy' that you couldn't sell your CT in the first year? How on earth would they 'police'(not a pun) that? More of Elon being Elon...

Pretty easy for them to track who owns the car as you have to create an account to manage charging, service, and mobile keys with the car when you get it. Transfers are easily tracked.

[dddd]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Like the New Beetle...think 'some' or trying to psychoanalyze The Thing...just a fun little car...Not much more..

As the the CT...pretty sure, no, really sure I'll NEVER buy anything 'Tesla'...

I went to bed last night wondering why an aesthetically-familiar (to Americans) design like the New Beetle wasn't selected for the initial rollout of the all-new FWD water-cooled platform instead of the "box" or "wagen' design.
As I dosed off, I was leaning toward the conclusion that the new shape had to be introduced at some point anyway, and being that it was the roomier design they did the right thing (is that a pun?) and went with the wagen shape from the get-go.

Odd as this may sound, my $ is on Elon Musk probably running for office some day. We've seen enough weirdos give it a go, and he's apparently got enough start-up money. Politicians are rarely universally popular, and voters are often looking for change so may ignore even some obvious red flag sort of character-istics.

[brenick]

Imagine the cyber truck in an accident.

Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5t71LZ6iok

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by dddd

Odd as this may sound, my $ is on Elon Musk probably running for office some day. We've seen enough weirdos give it a go, and he's apparently got enough start-up money. Politicians are rarely universally popular, and voters are often looking for change so may ignore even some obvious red flag sort of character-istics.

Thankfully, he can’t run for top office in the US because he wasn’t born in the US. Anyway, we don’t need people like him in political offices.

Overall I like my Tesla, but I’m not sure I would do it again due to him being in charge of Tesla. I’m glad I sold off my stock.

[professerr]

These trucks are so noticeable, I continue to be curious about who buys them. At first I saw the usual suspects, but now I keep seeing small businesses using them as rolling billboards, plastered with signage. I’ve seen one for a party planning business, a bail bondsman, some sort of custom blinds company, etc. Smart.

[fourflys]

so, you seem to think VW went from the Bug to the Rabbit with just the Thing in between.. Hmm.. take a stroll down the Google lane and check out the Type 2 and the Type 3 for a start.. it also seems you think VW designed/created the Thing between the time the Big went on sale in the US and when the Rabbit went on sale.. as I've pointed out, the Thing is just a civilianized Kublewagon from WWII that Nazi soldiers similar to how our soldiers used the Willys GP.. the Nazis also had a floating version called the Schwimmwagen..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Schwimmwagen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksw...%C3%BCbelwagen (take a read through the post war history section..)

Post-war VW was just initially feeding off the scarps that British Major Hirst found in the Wolfsburg factory (at least what was left of it) as the British were in charge of the part of Germany that the factory was in.. in fact, if it hadn't been for the stroke of luck that the British had that region, we may never have had any VWs after WWII as the first post-war Bug was put together as an experiment with parts found..

but as I said, if you are arguing VW introduced the Thing (type 181) to later introduce the Rabbit, you might want to review what the first 181s were used for..and the fact that the Type 3 (the Squareback) was a flat-ish hood, wagonback vehicle that was introduced in the very early 60s.. I would argue the Type 3 was much more of a "hatchback" prototype for VW than the Thing ever was..

Originally Posted by dddd

The Thing was of course a beetle in disguise. The beetle platform had already been offered in a convertible configuration, so how would it make any sense to "leverage a cheap convertible" by creating the temporary, primitive Thing?
Especially as the Thing didn't as you say have much in common with the Rabbit as far as the design, yet was made with the very same shape and sloping flat hood covering a "boot" or an engine!
So with the Rabbit largely copying the shape of the earlier foreign-market "wagen", the predescessor vehicle needed to be briefly brought here prior to the Rabbit's arrival.
The Thing got people used to seeing the sloping flat hood on a boxy body, so that the heavy investment in the new Rabbit platform would not be a laughing-stock market failure in the US, just as the CT now helps to get people used to a Prius-shaped pickup truck, so that the future (rounder, painted) CT won't get immediately laughed out of the trucking market.

I agree that there is a big difference this time around, in that the current CT arrives with all new design, while the Rabbit came with new design only after the primitive Thing had been put on the market.
And, of course the Rabbit and the CT do seem to exist at opposite ends of the price spectrum.

In both cases, an aesthetically-challenged, but very important and practical new vehicle design needed to be brought to market under a sort of fun, uniquely-stylized, but short-lived guise or narrative, to distract future buyers from the shock of an inherent "econobox-cheap" (or Prius-practical) sort of aesthetic.

[fourflys]

so, it's not like VW was the innovator of the small, water-cooled boxish hatchback.. the Austin Mini was around way before the Rabbit came out and Honda was also selling small hatchbacks in the late 60s in the US and they really popular in 1974 when Honda introduced the Civic in the US in 1974.. and I'm sure there were many others not familiar in the US..

While I really like the VW Rabbit and would LOVE to have a Mk1 GTI, they certainly weren't the only front-engine, water-cooled hatch around in the early days..

Originally Posted by dddd

I went to bed last night wondering why an aesthetically-familiar (to Americans) design like the New Beetle wasn't selected for the initial rollout of the all-new FWD water-cooled platform instead of the "box" or "wagen' design.
As I dosed off, I was leaning toward the conclusion that the new shape had to be introduced at some point anyway, and being that it was the roomier design they did the right thing (is that a pun?) and went with the wagen shape from the get-go.

[MikeD]

I thought it was pretty amazing that VW went from an air cooled, rear engine obsolete beetle to a modern water cooled front engine and drive Rabbit. Major transformation. Their diesel VW rabbits delivered amazing mpg.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by MikeD

I thought it was pretty amazing that VW went from an air cooled, rear engine obsolete beetle to a modern water cooled front engine and drive Rabbit. Major transformation. Their diesel VW rabbits delivered amazing mpg.

oh for sure! the Rabbit certainly was a huge step forward for VW for sure!

my dream VWs are as follows:
53 Beetle oval window with the fabric sunroof
any split-window Westy camper
T2 Doublecab
Synchro Vanagon Westy
Mk1 GTI
Corrado with the supercharged engine
Mk7 Golf R

[dgauthier]

Originally Posted by saab2000

(...) Overall I like my Tesla, but I’m not sure I would do it again due to him being in charge of Tesla. (...)

It does amaze me that someone as smart as Elon can't figure out that being apolitical is good for business.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by dgauthier

It does amaze me that someone as smart as Elon can't figure out that being apolitical is good for business.

egomaniacs and narcissists don't really think that way I don't think..

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by fourflys

my dream VWs are as follows

I always wanted a Variant, the two door 'coupe' version of the fastback/squareback. I don't think they imported many of those.

[Nevets]

A little off topic, but when I lived in UK in the 80s I had a Volkswagen Scirroco, it was a 2 door front wheel drive, stick shift "sports model" and great fun to drive, think it was a 1.6L engine and seemed (at the time) very quick...I donated it to my younger brother who eventually sold it for a work truck for his fledgling business in (shout out for FistCo Engineering, now long closed up due to retirement)

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by dgauthier

It does amaze me that someone as smart as Elon can't figure out that being apolitical is good for business.

Elon’s smarts and academic credentials are highly exaggerated. Not joking. He has claimed to have degrees that he does not have etc. He does not have an engineering background, he has undergrad in physics and business administration. He is not a wonder genius like the myths about him say he is. He no doubt has a narrow range of talents and abilities where he is quite intelligent, however to suggest that in the broad range of areas where he has influence he has smarts is…kinda dumb.