What's going on at Tesla?

Spendy Lemon

Tesla's Cybertruck has finally rolled out of the assembly line after years of delay, announced via a triumphant tweet accompanied by a photo of smiling autoworkers posing around the vehicle. But a zoomed in view of the Cybertruck clearly shows that the front passenger door doesn't align with the rear one — yet another sign that quality control remains a struggle for Tesla, especially with its brutalist attempt at an electric pickup.

When Tesla tweeted the photo over the weekend, the car news website Autoevolution pointed out the misalignment in the image, complete with a red circle to focus on the glaring door issue. Yikes.

"Let's hope this is a one-time thing, and Tesla won't have to deal with too many rejected deliveries because of fit and finish issues," the site wrote.

With Tesla and its CEO-slash-figurehead Elon Musk risking a ton on the success of the Cybertruck, which is all-electric and positioned to go after the lucrative pickup truck sector dominated by Ford's popular F-series, it's absolutely head-scratching that the company would allow the ostensibly first consumer-ready Cybertruck to leave the factory with an obvious flaw.

Janky Record

From the beginning, Tesla has suffered mishaps and flaws. Its cars have been dinged for a whole host of issues, ranging from bad panel alignment to the plague of reports involving Tesla's questionably-named feature Autopilot and Full Self-Driving.

Will the Cybertruck manage to succeed in spite of that narrative? It doesn't look good for the boxy, futuristic vehicle — if we have to go by the misaligned door in the fresh factory model, the janky-looking prototype on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum, and the infamous demo featuring the Cybertruck's armor glass window shattering on impact from a metal ball.

If we had to call it now, the future of the boundary-pushing vehicle looks pretty janky.

More on the Cybertruck: Cybertruck With Camouflage Pattern Spotted at In-N-Out Drive-Thru


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