Tesla is a brand that has been making waves in the automotive industry for awhile now, with their visionary leader Elon Musk. During a vehicle unveil last week, the company left much to be desired with things not going according to plans.
In the unveil, the electric car maker finally introduced their long awaited electric pickup truck named, Cybertruck. While the design certainly surprised a number of fans, it was the Truck’s endurance test that really made headlines.
In the test, Musk first asked a staff member to try and dent the body of the truck with a sledgehammer. The staff gave a few hefty swing but ultimately made nary a dent on the new truck. But when it came time to test the endurance of the metal glass, who he said can stop a 9mm bullet from a handgun, with a metal ball, the window cracked.
This left the billionaire standing on stage, embarrassed. The staff member then tried again at another window, and again he managed another crack. Even though the glass did not break, the shattered looks on it’s surface was definitely a nightmare for the company’s owner who tried to salvage the situation, “It didn’t go through, that’s the plus side.”
The incident quickly made headlines, spreading the name of the truck far and wide, which according to netizens, was the idea after all. Many people believe that the incident in question was actually a marketing gimmick that had news agencies worldwide giving it free publicity. By the looks of things, it worked, regardless if it was intentionally or not.
Despite the incident, the truck has been positively received. This ultimately led to orders comes flowing in, with it now reaching 2 hundred thousand orders with 80% of them avoiding the base model. In addition, it was also revealed by the technology entrepreneur that they actually tested the windows beforehand in a more controlled environment.
Franz throws steel ball at Cybertruck window right before launch. Guess we have some improvements to make before production haha. pic.twitter.com/eB0o4tlPoz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 23, 2019
Unfortunately, despite the warm reception at the end, investors were still unhappy with how the launch have went. This resulted in the stock price of the company going down by 6% and a drop in Musk personal net worth of $746m in a single day, according to Forbes.
No need to feel too bad though, as the inventor is still worth a comfortable $20B and will probably rise again if the sales of the truck take off.
Source: The Guardian.
