There's an Issue With Cybertrucks: They're Ridiculously Smudgy

Just don't touch it.

Smudge Magnet

Keeping a stainless steel kitchen appliance looking sparkling is easier said than done.

Now, consider if your entire pickup truck was clad in brushed metal, picking up every handprint and streak.

A recent image taken by a redditor on the I5 interstate last week, shows three Tesla Cybertrucks on the back of a car-carrying trailer. While it's unclear where they're headed, it doesn't take much to spot plenty of blemishes and stains on the sides of the vehicles, showing up as dark grey smudges that easily show against the reflective steel.

It could end up being an unfortunate reality for the already divisive truck. While we still don't know definitively how the vehicle will hold up to fingerprints or dirt when it finally rolls off the lot, Tesla is still taking on some inherent risks by switching to stainless steel — and it's not a good sign that the trucks are looking rough before customers even have their hands on them.

Shiny and Chrome

After many years of delays, Tesla's long-awaited pickup still has yet to ship to customers. Some may get access as soon as later this month, although they're still missing details as basic as range and cost. And those will be the lucky few; Tesla CEO Elon Musk has promised that production will ramp up next year.

We've seen plenty of Cybertrucks in the wild over the last couple of months, suggesting the carmaker is indeed making at least some steps in the right direction.

But from what we've seen, there's a good chance owners will have to apply a lot of elbow grease to keep their new trucks shiny. Previous images have also suggested that the truck could end up being a huge fingerprint magnet.

"You’ll have to either learn to live with this, or wrap it immediately," one X user suggested.

Then there are the signs of misaligned body parts, a massive wiper that doesn't wipe very well, and brake performance and handling issues.

However, Tesla's chief designer Franz von Holzhausen pointed to positives of the shiny shell.

During a January podcast interview, von Holzhausen said that "the stainless is incredibly hard, so if in the event there is a scratch, we do have a process that you could yourself basically buff it or remove the scratch and return to the basic finish that's on the stainless."

"It's a different process," he added. "It's not the same as the brush finish on a refrigerator or stain or a DeLorean or something. There is an intentional finish that we apply to it."

More on the truck: Elon Musk Sounds Mad About the Cybertruck Looking Sloppy in Leaked Email