Elon Musk now says Tesla Cybertruck size won’t change for production

This week’s episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage” will feature the show’s host chauffeuring Elon Musk around in the fabled Tesla Cybertruck. And while we hope to learn a few new tidbits about the much-anticipated electric pickup, Musk himself took to Twitter over the holiday weekend to set the record straight about the size of the production version.

Reviewed design with Franz last night. Even 3% smaller is too small. Will be pretty much this size. We’ll probably do a smaller, tight world truck at some point.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2020

“Even 3% smaller is too small,” Musk said, explaining he had reviewed the Cybertruck with Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen. “Will be pretty much this size.” He also added a big Easter egg in teasing “a smaller, tight world truck at some point.”

That’s a reversal from Musk’s statement last month in which he said designers were reducing the size by the same amount, with a more level center line and lower window sills. And it means we should discount his comments in the teaser video above about being “5% too big” because the truck “has gotta fit in a normal garage,” bearing in mind that the episode was likely filmed back in January.

Tesla has yet to release full dimensions of the Cybertruck, but we know it measures 231.7 inches long and has a 149.9-inch wheelbase, both of which are longer than the largest variant of the Ford F-150. We also know that the massive truck, with its massive battery pack, will also likely be classified as a medium-duty pickup, denoting gross vehicle weight of 8,500 pounds, alongside trucks like the Ford F-Series Super Duty and Ram 2500. Also, it sounds like all those renderings of Cybertruck-compliant garages aren’t necessarily folly after all.

But while the Cybertruck will compete in the same class as segment leaders such as the F-150, Ram 1500 and Chevrolet Silverado, it makes sense that Tesla is thinking ahead to a smaller variant. There’s still a sizable market for smaller trucks like the Ford Ranger, Toyota Tacoma and the slew of forthcoming battery-electric pickups from Rivian, Lordstown Motors and other startups.

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