Let me put this in very plain terms: my first reaction to Tesla's pickup truck was wrong. And I have much less excuse for it than do many other people, because I've studied a bit of art history, and anyone who's studied art history can tell you that, over and over, works of Western art, paintings, mostly, have gotten severely negative reactions when they are first shown, and then gone on to be widely loved and regarded as masterpieces. I've learned not to make a snap judgement if I see a painting and hate it at first. I should have been able to apply this to my reaction to the Tesla pickup, a reaction which, as I admitted in the previous post, was entirely based on its looks. I have less excuse for this than many other people commenting who have never studied art history.
And of course, trucks are not entirely about looks. They are -- theoretically, at least, and in many cases actually -- made for work, and when it comes to horsepower, torque, load capacity, towing capacity and other truck stuff, the Tesla pickup puts up very impressive numbers. Also, of course, it will be much cheaper to maintain and fuel than an internal-combustion-engine truck.
And the people who actually work with trucks, as opposed to driving them as big obnoxious status symbols, pay close attention to such numbers. Because it's work. It's business. It's about the numbers. And looking at the numbers may already have induced quite a number of people look at the Tesla pickup differently, literally and figuratively.
To go back to literally looking at it: I think that the launch may have been unfortunate for more than just the shattered windows. The way that Elon Musk stood in front of it on stage, the angle at which Elon and the truck are shown in most photos and videos, makes the truck look smaller, and above all lower, than it actually is. In those photos, the truck is reminding people of the El Camino, which is not a good association unless you're going for laughs. The El Camino is a 70's-style American sedan with a small truck bed where the back seats and trunk should be, and about the same ground clearance as most other sedans, whereas the Tesla pickup is a big truck with front and back seats and a lot of ground clearance.
So, would I buy one? No. I think it's a good truck, maybe so good that it will be game-changing. If so, it wouldn't be Tesla's first game-changing vehicle. So why won't I buy one? Well, for one thing, I don't need a truck, and unlike many other people who don't need trucks, I'm not going to to buy one. There's also the fact that I'm broke.
But also, it's a Tesla. Teslas are great vehicles, but Tesla is a terrible company. Elon Musk poses as an unworldly geek who just wants to help the world, while ripping off Tesla to the tune of billions of dollars per year. That means that if I bought a Tesla, several thousand dollars' worth of the purchase price would be going straight into Musk's pocket. Meanwhile, everyone except Musk who works at Tesla is underpaid. Anyone who even talks about unions vanishes. Working conditions are nightmarish, "layoffs" are frequent. Musk lies about prices. Musk says the truck will start at $39,900. He also said that the Tesla model 3 would start at $35,000. No-one has ever bought a $35,000 Model 3, and if anyone thinks they're going to get a Tesla pickup for $40,000, their stupidity angers and saddens me. Tesla still won't share their Superchargers with any other electric vehicles. Tesla doesn't sell Tesla parts, or authorize very many people at all to make Tesla repairs. Tesla customer service is a nightmare. And all of the above makes it a more shameless lie when Musk says he's just a selfless friend of humanity.
I might consider buying a Tesla someday if Tesla got rid of Musk and fixed all of those problems. Not before. But there's no denying that Tesla's vehicles are outstanding.
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