Lacking curves: Tesla Cybertruck's body needs a complete redesign, says expert

It has been four years since Elon Musk first showcased the prototype of the highly anticipated Cybertruck. It was supposed to enter its mass production phase in 2021 but then was delayed a number of times to 2023. However, now that Tesla is building the Cybertruck at a large scale, things have started taking an ugly turn. It turns out, that although the flat panels and straight lines that we saw on the Cybertruck’s prototype look incredible, along with that polished steel bodywork, it causes a lot of issues during production. The Tesla Cybertruck is now facing production challenges at Tesla’s Austin Gigafactory. Recent reports indicate that the first lot of vehicles are having some significant quality issues, mainly with the bodywork. The clear, glossy stainless steel colour is also prone to a lot of fingerprint smudges. This has forced Musk to send a panic-stricken email to all Tesla employees, stressing the need for greater precision in the manufacturing process. He has basically asked them to work with tighter tolerances and tighter margins. Adrian Clarke, a car designer, has suggested that the only way to improve the Cybertruck is through a complete redesign. He attributes the issues to the flat body panels, which magnify even the smallest imperfections in the production process. Clarke explained, “Production feasibility is a major concern. The tolerances for body panels are measured in millimetres to accommodate assembly variations and tolerance stacking.” He emphasized that this doesn’t consider the thermal expansion and contraction during both manufacturing and vehicle operations. While Elon Musk acknowledges these problems, he remains confident that tighter tolerances will resolve the Cybertruck’s issues. The designer however was sceptical about this, along with several others in the industry, all of whom believe that the Cybertruck needs a complete design overhaul and possibly, a complete redesign, with some curvy panels and lines. Clarke recalled, “Upon seeing the Cybertruck, everyone I know in the industry burst into laughter. We doubted its feasibility for production.” Clarke also pointed out that meeting crash and pedestrian impact regulations would be a substantial challenge and noted the difficulty of producing perfectly straight panels. He further remarked, “I understand the desire for a simple and clean design, but there’s a distinction between minimalism and oversimplification. The Cybertruck appears to have attempted the former but ended up with the latter.”