this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 hour ago

"$800m"… If nobody wants them, they're not worth anything.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

"nobody wants" or 60% of Americans can't afford basic living expenses?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 18 minutes ago (1 children)

Why not both nobody wants them and 60% of Americans can't afford basic living expenses?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 13 minutes ago

For all we know lots of people want them but can't afford them.

Paints two completely different scenarios from the same objective base observation that there are X amount of unsold Cybertrucks.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Can someone explain how the demographic of people who loved to park their gas guzzlers to purposefully block tesla charging stations are now Musk fanboys all of a sudden?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 hour ago

Oppositional Defiant Disorder.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago

They're not worthless, im sure you can use them for scrap metal

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Cybertrucks are just sitting around, waiting for someone to officially label them the DeLorean of the 21st century.

Hey! You take that back! DeLoreans were always cool cars. Their demise wasn't due to lack of popularity, the company just had problems getting established, and ultimately didn't survive its initial growth phase.

Nobody despised the DeLorean, or it's owner. They just ran out of money, and he tried a desperate Hail Mary play, that didn't work.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

Their demise was absolutely due to lack of popularity. In December '81 they had produced 7,000 units and sold 3,000. I'd argue that they failed for the same reason Fiero did -- they looked like a sports car but were not. Top speed was 110mph. 0-60 time was 10.5 seconds. It had a V-6 that put out 130hp in a car with a curb wt of 2700 lbs. 0-60 time was measured at 10.5 seconds. To put that in perspective, about the same as a 99 Ford F-350 Super Duty Crew Cab 4x4 Dually or 73 LTD Brougham. There are virtually no modern cars that run 0-60 that slow. A 2024 5.3l Suburban has a time of 7.0

In addition, they had numerous quality control problems. This in a car that retailed for $25k or the rough equivalent of $86,000 in today's dollars. While it's probably true that nobody despised the car, it was not a good car. They were definitely cool sitting in a parking lot but getting spanked by a 1980 Chevy Citation (0-60 10.3) is not a good look

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

The cybertruck is on a different scale of unpopularity.

Nobody threw Molotov cocktails at Delorians.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 hour ago

Not with that spelling.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 55 minutes ago)

I'm not saying you are wrong in anything you state, and you make good points.
And yes you are probably right that the shortcomings compared to what was promised is the main reason sales didn't go as expected.
But I think you don't see it the same way as barneypiccolo you responded to.
Wasn't the DeLorean design pretty iconic from the beginning? The fact that there are still more than 2/3rds of the cars built on the road today 44 years later does speak volumes to its favor regarding popularity IMO. Those were not cars that were bought, found insufficient and then scrapped. But instead have been maintained despite DeLorean hasn't been around to supply spare parts.
Also the fact that the car had such a central role in the Movie Back to the Future, because it was simply such a cool car despite it's flaws, what other car could they have used for similar effect?
Imagine trying to do that with the Cybertruck! The Cinema would most like burst out in laughter from claiming doing anything with a Cybertruck would be to do it in "Style" as Emmet Brown expressed it regarding the DeLrean. It would clearly be seen as a fat joke on how stupid the car is and looks.
So no the car wasn't popular enough in sales for the number of cars DeLorean built, but it was never an unpopular atrocity like the Cybertruck is.

Edit PS:

they had produced 7,000 units and sold 3,000

That's not true:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMC_DeLorean

total production reached an estimated 9,000 units

And allegedly they needed to sell about 2000 cars remaining to continue.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Fuck Tesla. No bailouts for Nazis.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 minutes ago

He's right behind me isn't he

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

And retail investors continue to bail out the investors with money who are actually making money. Watch out for that rug!

[–] [email protected] 46 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

I am expecting them to end up as ICE technicals, used to hunt down dissidents like...checks notes...American citizens, children, and the elderly.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

Finally some good news

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 hours ago

My pet conspiracy theory has been that Elmo was hoping Trump would mandate that everything gov related has to drive Teslas.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

So your saying one will be able to avoid ICE by simply escaping on days when its raining?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 hours ago

Or, by running through sand or mud!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 hours ago

I would pay 10 bucks to use them in my survival kit as a fire starter.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

maybe they should try making their cars not ugly as sin

[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

The main flaw of that thing is its bad engineering. The design was meant to be polarising and if it was actually a good car, it would work in its favour.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

They are also larger then expected or needed. The one I see at work just barely fits in the parking spaces, width wise.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

But that goes for pretty much any pickup truck. The whole category is an affront to common sense.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 44 minutes ago (2 children)

Nah. The current crop of US pickups is, I'll agree; but there's plenty of older pickups that are much more reasonably scaled. Not to mention non-American models.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 minutes ago

Agreed. I was specifically referring to the current crop of US pickups.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 26 minutes ago* (last edited 24 minutes ago)

Oder Pickups were utility vehicles, not the abhorrent passenger vehicles they are commonly used as today. I'm sure the other person wasn't referring to your average 1968 F150 used on a farm back in the day.

[–] [email protected] 95 points 9 hours ago (7 children)

Next week: US Department of Defence announces purchase of fleet of Cybertrucks.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago

Can't wait to see how well it works to glue armored panels on.

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 9 hours ago (6 children)

You know, by stock market logic, this would mean they aren't actually worth $800m

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 hours ago

They're only worth what someone would be willing to pay for them. What's the scrap value on a cybertruck?

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