Electric car-maker Tesla has unveiled its long-awaited pickup truck.
The ‘Cybertruck’ aims to take a slice of America’s most lucrative car market – with production due to begin in late 2021.
Designed to “have the utility of a truck and the performance of a sports car,” the vehicle packs a huge amount of power with a towing capacity of 14,000lbs – and is capable of accelerating from 0 to 95kph in 6.5 seconds.
It will have a starting price on $39,900 (€36,000) and a maximum range of over 500 miles per charge.
Cybertruck Unveil starts at 8
Stay tuned for livestream pic.twitter.com/zrbsoKKLd7
— Tesla (@Tesla) November 21, 2019
“We need sustainable energy now,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during the unveiling.
“If we don’t have a pickup truck we can’t solve it. The top three selling vehicles in America are pickup trucks.
“To solve sustainable energy we have to have a pickup truck.”
The Tesla Cybertruck. Image: TeslaIt is the cars angular design that will have car-lovers talking however. Partly inspired by James Bond's submarine car in The Spy Who Loved Me, the vehicle looks like something out of a 1970s sci-fi novel.
It was greeted with cheers during its livestream unveiling; however, there have been many bemused reactions on social media.
The Tesla Cybertruck. Image: TeslaMeanwhile, an attempt to demonstrate the strength of the Cybertruck’s “armour glass” window went badly wrong when two shattered on stage.
The windows, designed to withstand bullets and sledgehammers smashed after metal balls were thrown at them.
Mr Musk admitted there was “room for improvement” in the design.
He said the windows didn’t break under strong testing before the unveiling and said the company would investigate what went wrong.
