Tesla Cybertruck set for debut

AUSTIN - Four years after startling the car world with designs for the Cybertruck, Elon Musk is set to mark the arrival of Tesla's iconoclastic take on the American pickup.

Musk has scheduled an event at Tesla's Austin headquarters to mark the first deliveries to customers of the Cybertruck, whose design to some has evoked a futuristic, sometimes dystopian future akin to "Blade Runner" or "Mad Max."

The belated debut comes as other automakers have delayed capital investments due to sluggish demand for electric vehicles. Tesla itself has undertaken numerous price cuts, even as its share price has stayed lofty.

"This is an important launch for Musk and the Tesla brand," said Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives in an email to AFP.

The omnipresent Musk has faced even more scrutiny than usual following criticism that the billionaire entrepreneur and his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, have promoted a growing wave of anti-Semitism.

"We do not believe the Tesla brand has been negatively impacted, but it's a careful balance for Elon he is trying to tightrope," said Ives, who praised Musk's recent trip to Israel after the latest X controversy.

Musk caused a stir in November 2019 when the prototype of the angular, uniformly gray Cybertruck generated much curiosity and buzz even if it wasn't universally loved.

"It doesn't look like anything else," said Musk.

The launch event included a demo conducted by a vehicle designer intended to highlight the truck's toughness. Its body emerged unscathed from an encounter with a sledgehammer but the window cracked when struck with a metal ball.