--- title: "There’s an Issue With Cybertrucks: They’re Ridiculously Smudgy" description: "A recent image shows three Tesla Cybertrucks on the back of a car carrier trailer covered in smudges and stains." date: "2023-09-05" modified: "2023-09-05" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/cybertrucks-smudgy" categories: - "Advanced Transport" tags: - "cybertruck" - "elon musk" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # There’s an Issue With Cybertrucks: They’re Ridiculously Smudgy ![A recent image shows three Tesla Cybertrucks on the back of a car carrier trailer covered in smudges and stains.]() *\Image: alphex / Reddit\* ## 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]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()