The Burner

Unpopular opinion! To all Tesla fans and Cybertruck owners who are wholeheartedly defending Elon’s decision to discontinue the Cybertruck: I’m a huge Tesla supporter, shareholder, and Cybertruck owner. My Cyberbeast is the best vehicle I’ve ever owned. I strongly believe in Tesla’s future, FSD, Optimus, and Cybercab. But that doesn’t mean I have to blindly agree with every decision Elon makes. The argument that Tesla needs the Cybertruck production space and experienced workers to ramp up Cybercab production is understandable. But why are we pretending these are mutually exclusive goals? Tesla has the land, capital, engineering talent, and manufacturing expertise to build additional production facilities. If the goal is eventually to produce 2 million Cybercabs annually, Tesla will need significantly more manufacturing capacity anyway. But here’s what bothers me even more: Elon is effectively conceding America’s biggest vehicle segment, and one of its largest consumers of fossil fuels, to ICE manufacturers. Think about that for a moment. Pickup trucks are deeply embedded in American culture and are essential working vehicles for millions of Americans. They aren’t going away because robotaxis become popular. If Tesla abandons this segment, Ford, GM, and Ram will happily continue selling millions of gasoline and diesel trucks. How exactly does that advance Tesla’s mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy? The Cybertruck was Tesla’s opportunity to disrupt one of the most profitable, fuel-consuming, and difficult-to-electrify segments of the American auto industry. Instead of improving the product, lowering costs, and expanding production, Tesla would be walking away from it entirely. And please don’t tell me Tesla has no choice because it needs the factory space and workers for Cybercab. Tesla has built entire factories in record time. Surely a company capable of revolutionizing autonomous driving, robotics, and AI can figure out how to manufacture two different vehicles simultaneously. Robotaxis will revolutionize transportation, but millions of Americans will still want to own their vehicles, especially pickup trucks. Being a loyal Tesla supporter doesn’t mean defending every decision Elon makes. Sometimes loyalty means speaking up when you believe the company is making a serious mistake. We should be demanding better decisions, not inventing excuses to justify questionable ones. I support Elon and Tesla’s mission, but abandoning the pickup truck market to gasoline and diesel manufacturers while claiming to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy seems like a massive contradiction to me. And I refuse to pretend otherwise just because Elon made the decision. @elonmusk #Cybertruck