EV giant Tesla started to ship its Cybertruck basecamp last week and certain images of the tent are largely underwhelming. Tesla executive Javier Verdura, however, pins it down to improper assembly.
What Happened: The Cybertruck basecamp is priced at $2,975 and is meant for campers to fit in the back of their electric pickup truck. The tent is fully collapsible and can be stowed under the tonneau cover when not in use, as per Tesla.
However, certain images of the tent shared in the last few days show an ill-inflated structure mounted on the back of the stainless steel vehicle.
Javier Verdura, global director of product design at Tesla, took to social media to say that the particular images show the tent as not fully set up.
“They literally posted the worst possible picture they could find. When set up properly, the tent looks great,” Verdura wrote. He also alleged that reviewing the tent using the said picture is “akin to writing a suit review using a picture of a wrinkled suit, with untucked shirt & undone tie, then saying suit looks bad.”
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“Also, we don't design and launch products like the CyberTent to make money as the primary objective, we do it to bring smiles to our customers' faces, we do it to make the post-vehicle purchase experience even better,” Verdura said.
He also noted that rival EV makers offer a tent at a higher price as compared to Tesla. Though the tent from rival EV maker Rivian Automotive is priced lower at $2,800, it requires cross bars to be installed to support the tent, thereby taking the total cost to $3,450.
“Rooftop tents are not cheap. Tesla's is the most integrated and still lower,” Vardera said.
Why It Matters: Tesla started delivering the Cybertruck to customers in late November. On its online shop, Tesla offers several products for its Cybertruck including snow chains for its wheels, tailgate ramp, crossbars, wraps for the body, and more.
The basecamp, however, is the second most expensive Cybertruck- focussed product from the shop after body wraps.
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Photo via Tesla
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