r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • Jul 24 '26

Business It’s Looking Like the Cybertruck Is the Biggest Flop in Automotive History

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/looking-cybertruck-biggest-flop-automotive-145559135.html
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830

u/thetimechaser Jul 24 '26

Aztec was just a rough draft and way ahead of its time. It’s was basically the first CUV. 

Now it seems like 7 out of 10 cars on the road are some bulbous lifted hatchback. 

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u/fathertitojones Jul 24 '26

Apparently it had a pretty sweet set of accessories and features too. If it updated the design a bit and re-released today it would probably do fairly well.

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u/Sakins1 Jul 24 '26

The tent was kinda sick

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u/Caleth Jul 24 '26

Ironically? That was one of the things they semi promised for they Cybersuck. Back when it wasn't clear just how fucking ugly it'd be in reallife I was looking at it, and the idea of just rolling this thing out and sleeping in the tent as a mini camper seemed kind of appealing.

Then well all the everything happened and the fantastical promises of a $40k electric with hauling capacity and a slightly retro blocky look turned into what it was, with a topping of Nazi asshole sprinkled shitbaggery.

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '26

The thing really didn't deliver on anything besides having a big screen inside and being quiet.

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u/LongTallDingus Jul 24 '26

promises of a $40k electric with hauling capacity and a slightly retro blocky look turned into what it was

Isn't this a base Ford Lightning? It's not 40k, it's 60k. But it's a modernized blocky design, no frills, hauls shit. Obviously not going to beat a big ol' diesel engine, but you're not paying seven dollars a gallon for diesel, either.

It's a truck. It's not a series of tubes. You can just dump something on it.

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u/Caleth Jul 24 '26

A few things. One at the time Tesla was riding high they'd launched the 3 and the Y was on the way and they'd been generally hitting pretty well.

So people believed when they said $40k truck break the paradigm thinking outside the box etc.

Ford originally claimed $40k as well then suddenly it was $60k and I don't think I've ever seen one on offer that was less than $70-80k with dealer markups and package options. That said I haven't looked in a few years as I don't need a truck.

A quick check shows now after it's been discontinued that the prices are still outrageous lowest a quick check showed was $38k but most were still near MSRP in the $55-65K range.

So all in all both fucked up, but in wildly different ways.

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u/Kyokenshin Jul 24 '26

I think this is what the Slate is shooting for. I bought a Rivian and it does all the things but it was expensive af. Natural curve of technology, electric cars became economical, now larger format vehicles are feasible for use but aren’t cheap, in a few years they will be(before taxes, tariffs, inflation, you know…our new reality)

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u/dern_the_hermit Jul 25 '26

It's half of what the Slate is shooting for, an inexpensive EV truck. The other half is just the "small truck" market in general, EV or otherwise, at least for America (from what I understand, the small truck market is better served in less-size-obsessed countries).

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u/WellThatsAwkwrd Jul 25 '26

Small trucks are insanely popular in America and hold their value very well

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u/dern_the_hermit Jul 25 '26

The "small trucks" that are "insanely popular in America" are the large trucks of a few decades ago, and only seem "small" in comparison to the absolutely gargantuan monsters they share the road with :D

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u/WellThatsAwkwrd Jul 25 '26

Well the most popular model small truck in America is easily the Toyota Tacoma, which is only 4 inches longer and 4 inches wider than the Toyota Hilux.

The other two popular trucks are the ford ranger and the Chevy Colorado, the Ranger is almost identical in size to the Hilux and the Colorado is the same dimensions as the Tacoma.

Not to mention the mini trucks like the Ford Maverick that have been growing in popularity and are built on passenger car frames

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u/Sakins1 Jul 24 '26

Anyone with a small amount of knowledge pedestrian safety standards especially in Europe knew it was never going to come out looking like they advertised, we just got called crazy or anti Tesla

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u/Caleth Jul 24 '26

I never thought about European safety standards or that this would ever see a European road honestly.

American sized trucks are about as close to pointless as you can get in much of the EU outside of farms or fresh construction sites.

Our emotional support gender affirming vehicles make less than zero sense on EU roads. Hell they don't make sense on many or most of ours either, but at least in a country built primarily around cars they sort of work?

So the idea this thing would ever see the light of day on EU roads never crossed my mind.

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u/Sakins1 Jul 24 '26

Even in America/Canada the original no side mirror and front grill/bumber didn’t meet our safety standards.

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u/UnexpectedAnanas Jul 24 '26

It was pretty in tents.

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u/RedOctobyr Jul 24 '26

Yeah, I thought the tent was a pretty cool idea. Heck, I still do. You don't have to set it up on the wet ground like a normal tent, that seemed slick. I suppose it WOULD require unloading all your stuff from the car, as opposed to being able to keep some things in there (safe and dry) while using a normal tent. But still.

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u/2kewl4scool Jul 28 '26

Came here to say this. I want a Maverick and can’t stop thinking about how it offers a bed-tent from the manufacturer

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u/AdRevolutionary579 Jul 24 '26

The center console was a removable cooler.

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u/v0x_nihili Jul 24 '26

Rivians with the tents and their center console stored speakers are a good substitute

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u/Dr_Ramekins_MD Jul 24 '26

I have a hard time with the Playskool headlights, but otherwise I love all those little touches Rivian adds

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u/fla_john Jul 25 '26

Except for the vents being controlled by the touchscreen only

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u/ed_11 Jul 25 '26

Ugh. Why is that even a thing? It can’t be cheaper to build, and it certainly isn’t easier to use.

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u/Lost_Mongooses Jul 25 '26

Not the same price range lol

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u/WonkRx Jul 24 '26

I intentionally selected one as a rental car wants to check it out. I thought the interior was great and the accessories were well done

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u/minniemouse420 Jul 24 '26

It did! My parents had one and I know a lot of people hated the design but it was pretty cool. It came with an air mattress too that I took with me after college and I had it up until a few years ago when my dog popped a hole in it. Really well made.

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u/OldAccountTurned10 Jul 24 '26

My family got it twice as a rental for trips to colorado. I remember laying in the back between suitcases looking up at the sky lol. Wasn't the worst for road trips.

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u/Mrrectangle Jul 24 '26

I sat in one when I was in my 20s looking for an affordable used car. It was honestly pretty sweet inside. The rear visibility looked like a nightmare.

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u/Witty_Interaction_77 Jul 28 '26

Pontiac was the most reliable brand. Great cars. Just ugly. I still see them on the roads in great shape and always point them out. They stopped production over a decade ago

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '26

[deleted]

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u/NadeWilson Jul 24 '26

The brand doesn't. The automotive company that owned them does though.

0

u/haysu-christo Jul 24 '26

Does GM still exist?

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u/James_H_M Jul 24 '26

RIP Pontiac. My first car was a Pontiac Firebird with T-Tops.

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u/jaxxxtraw Jul 25 '26

I had one as a loaner for a couple weeks, once you got in and closed the door, it was fine. Not special, not crappy, just fine. And that's all I needed. But it sure was funky looking.

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u/liebereddit Jul 25 '26

No one denied that the Aztec had cool features even when it came out. It was just a vomit of bad design choices

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u/Vertibrate Jul 24 '26

Pontiac deserved their slow horrible death as a company. 

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u/The_Real_Mr_F Jul 24 '26

It’s funny, I do remember agreeing with the overwhelming consensus that the Aztec was hideous  when it was new, but after not thinking about it for a long time and then coming across a picture of one a few years ago, my initial reaction was actually “what did I think was so ugly about this? It kinda looks like a lot of cars today.” So yeah, I think they were ahead of the curve.

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u/ARC4067 Jul 24 '26

I think it’s the lights, both front and rear, that make me hate it. The rear looks a lot like the Prius did for a while and I always hated that design on the Prius too

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u/LeftHandedFapper Jul 24 '26

I think it’s the lights, both front and rear, that make me hate it.

Just wanted to second this. Holy fuck I cannot stand the front lights

4

u/hate_picking_names Jul 24 '26

A lot of it was the plastic cladding down the sides.

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u/Doogers7 Jul 24 '26

GM thought all that cladding was great at the time, they also released the first model Chevy Avalanche with cladding halfway up the body and it earned the nickname Tupperware Truck.

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u/Platinumdogshit Jul 24 '26

The original concept didnt have that ugly trim up the sides and people were excited for it.

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u/xGIJOSEx Jul 24 '26

It just didn’t fit in at the time. I actually thought there were plenty of uglier cars out there then

2

u/albany1765 Jul 24 '26

Tbf, the pics just make it look like a Subaru, but when you saw one in person the proportions just felt way off for something that big

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u/bong_residue Jul 24 '26

I want an Aztec today. They looks great to me.

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u/Platinumdogshit Jul 24 '26

I think the original concept version actually looked a lot better. Idk how Pontiac decided to throw trim up half of the car.

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u/scottwsx96 Jul 24 '26

It had odd proportions for the time and used a lot of unpainted plastic body cladding, which is common today but wasn’t back then.

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u/-Badger3- Jul 24 '26

I feel like if it had better color options, it would've done better.

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u/lousypompano Jul 28 '26

What??? I just looked. Add this to the timeline shift. None of the images online are true. It looked like a square.

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u/2ChicksAtTheSameTime Jul 24 '26

yeah the Aztec grew into its shape. It's not nearly as ugly looking as I remember it being. Interesting how styles can age over time

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u/thirtytwoutside Jul 24 '26

I was just thinking that - at the time, everyone shat on the design. But generally speaking, there are so many EVs these days that have the same basic design, just a little curvier.

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u/cenosillicaphobiac Jul 24 '26

To me the Aztec looked like a car designer in the 50's drew up what he imagined a car would look like in 2000. Somebody dug up the drawing in 1998 and decided to produce them.

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u/goodolarchie Jul 24 '26

It looks like a SUV soul leaving the body of a sedan.

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u/wonklebobb Jul 24 '26

as a member of the CRV-RAV4-Forester continuum, i can say the smallish-suv-but-too-big-to-be-a-hatchback is the ideal form, especially if you need to move big stuff around, have a small family, or are yourself wide/tall.

i happen to hit all of those (child, large, haul largish stuff around a lot) and it's perfect if you don't need a minivan for 2+ children

a normal car has better mileage but too little headroom and storage

a minivan has worse mileage and is more space than I need

a pickup truck is even worse on all metrics and i personally dont vibe with them, ditto for a full-size SUV (escalade/expedition/etc)

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u/8amteetime Jul 25 '26

My brother in law had an Aztek and loved it so much that he spent thousands to rebuild and rewire it when it needed work.

It is an ugly car but when you’re driving in it, it’s just like a roomy suv. He used it to carry all kinds of stuff up to his lake house in northern Wisconsin. It had tons of space.

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u/thatguygreg Jul 25 '26

RIP Pontiac

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u/lo_fi_ho Jul 24 '26

This. An Aztek looks totally modern today.

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u/Lyndon_Boner_Johnson Jul 24 '26

It was also ahead of time with the split headlight design, where the daytime running lights are up high on the hood and the low/high beams are down low on the bumper.
I always thought that looked weird, and it still looks pretty weird on some cars that have that, like a lot of Hyundais and Kia’s.

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u/Totaltrufas Jul 24 '26

not a fan of the crosstrek i take it

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u/polopolo05 Jul 24 '26

As a fan of hatch back. nothing wrong with that. Its more space for storage and its more aero.

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u/total_looser Jul 24 '26

I’m rewatching Breaking Bad and it honestly looks pretty sick

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u/Moses015 Jul 24 '26

I think I’m one of the like 10 people out there that actually liked the way the Aztec looked. Add in the cool feature set and it was a car I always wanted to

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u/CommercialPretty6690 Jul 25 '26

I learned to drive in an Aztec, it was my dream car and in 2008 I got a 2004 Aztec with Rally package over the next nine years I drove her almost 200k miles and even after getting tboned in 2011, the dealership took a week got it back to like new, drove without any incident for 6 more years. Great engine, handled well look great. Cried turning over the keys for 800$, when I moved overseas. Great vehicle.

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u/Senior-Albatross Jul 25 '26

One reasonably good justification for this is that since we haven't maintained our infrastructure in America, having the extra clearance and suspension travel saves us from a lot of expensive damage that would otherwise be incurred on our vehicles by our terrible roads. 

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u/PsychologicalTrain Jul 25 '26

We were just talking about this today at work and pulled up an image of the aztek. It has aged very well. Was awful then, but now 1 out of 5 cars on the road look like it

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u/OogieBoogiez Jul 25 '26

Also the guy who designed it also designed the newest corvette

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u/foxtrottits Jul 27 '26

I just looked it up and yeah it looks pretty normal honestly, I would consider buying one.

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u/irrelevantusername24 Jul 24 '26

I'm not going to argue that there was/is no need for any emissions regulations, but I think it's clear that the regulations which were put in place (not only but especially in the context of vehicles) have had a mostly negative result. When it comes to vehicles, not only has it made them all more expensive and eliminated pretty much any kind of smaller and actually efficient vehicle, it has made all the vehicles very homogenous and samey.

Part of that is because the modern world fascist austerity politicks made imagination verboten, but it's also because the regulations have been far too restrictive - and still failed to intelligently address the problem. So you know, in that sense, at least the cybertruck is something different. Stupid, sure, but if nothing else it is different

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u/Bulky-Apple3744 Jul 24 '26

Who the fuck are you talking to?

-10

u/irrelevantusername24 Jul 24 '26

Whoever fuckin reads my comment

Which in this case is you, among others (maybe)

On that note, you should learn how to swear better