How Tesla’s Cybertruck highlighted polarization in the US

The New York Times has called this bulletproof steel monster a “culture war on wheels”, and nothing could be more fitting for Tesla’s controversial Cybertruck.

One big reason for people’s distaste for the Cybertruck is the fact that it cannot be separated from the man who created it: the controversial Elon Musk.

Even Musk himself said during the Cybertruck’s unveiling, five years ago, that the car wouldn’t “be for everyone”.

And during those five years of manufacturing Cybertrucks, Musk has gone from being a kind of future guru inventor, to a right-wing, transphobic, Donald Trump supporter.

The Cybertruck can also be seen as a classist symbol, for its unaffordable price (starting at $80,000) and the fact that it is marketed as “bulletproof”.

“It’s the embodiment of the culture of fear right now,” said Michael Rock, the founding partner of the brand consultancy 2x4 to the NYT. “Why do you need a bulletproof car in the Hamptons? There’s a mentality to it.”

Moreover, when it comes to the owners of this model, the preconceived idea the world already has of them is that they are desperate attention seekers.

There’s a specific image that people make up in their heads about the owners of these types of cars, which is similar to how owning a Hummer in the beginning of the 2000’s looked like: An entitled attention seeker who thinks that rules don’t apply to them.

And that may explain the type of anti-Cybertruck crusade that is going on in the US right now, in which people denounce and shame the illegal behavior of Cybertruck drivers on social media: from poorly parked ones to reckless driving.

Photo: X - @ACABylonBee

But why is the Cybertruck so hated and not other Tesla models? According to David Tracy, head of ‘Autopian’, Tesla went from fabricating “logical, aerodynamic, efficient” models to a car that “doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

“The Cybertruck is very hard to separate from Elon Musk, because it’s not really logical,” Tracy, an automotive engineer, told the Times.

Incidentally, the car embodies all the theories that Elon Musk embraces, the most obvious being that of insecurity and the need to drive an unbreakable car. A car that, in the event of an apocalypse, would allow you to run over zombies.

Be that as it may, that apocalyptic future, non-logical, design has captured the attention of tons of people. The Times mentions the Cybertruck has to be one of the most photographed cars right now.

And though a lot of people hate it, it also has lots of admirers, who look up to the people who drive them, as they dream about the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

Case in point, the quintessential woman of the 21st century, Kim Kardashian, who has been seen driving a Tesla Cybertruck.

One thing’s for sure, the Tesla Cybertruck, much like its creator, Elon Musk, leaves no one indifferent: either you love it or you hate it.

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