Munro Live on YouTube
- Tesla appears to be driving a Cybertruck disguised as an F-150, according to unverified photos.
- Auto expert Sandy Munro said the photos indicate the Cybertruck was sporting a wrap.
- Elon Musk's biographer said Musk was inspired to build Cybertruck because Ford trucks are "boring."
New images of Tesla's Cybertruck appear to show the carmaker has disguised one of its models as Ford's F-150 pickup truck.
Auto-manufacturing expert Sandy Munro shared one of the unverified photos of the Cybertruck on his YouTube channel Tuesday. The original photo that was posted on X, formerly Twitter, has since been deleted. A spokesperson for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from Insider ahead of publication.
"It's kind of a cool picture. You can tell it's definitely geared toward trying to look like an F-150 Lightning," Munro said, pointing out that the bright lines where the light reflects against the doors of the vehicle in the photo indicate that the Cybertruck is wearing a wrap of some kind.
Munro Live on YouTube
CNBC reporter Brian Sullivan shared a close up photo of the back of a similarly wrapped Cybertruck on X Tuesday night. The photo shows that the wrap appears to give the Cybertruck similar taillights as a traditional F-150. Though, the Cybertruck is still distinguishable by its angular roof.
"Buddy in Palo Alto spotted a Cybertruck in the wild," Sullivan tweeted. "Tesla clearly messing with (hiding?) some final trim details with wheel wells and rear end. He said truck was huge (and he usually drives a Dodge Ram)."
On Monday, Insider's Tim Levin pointed out that the unverified photo of the Cybertruck in the wrap showed the vehicle had a relatively small frunk. Munro also said that it appears the frunk — or front trunk — "won't have a lot of room" which could give the actual F-150 Lightning a slight advantage when it comes to frunk size (the frunk on the F-150 Lightning is large).
But don't hold your breath if you're hoping Tesla might one day sell a wrap kit to transform the Cybertruck into something that looks more traditional — the wrap in the photos is mostly likely meant to disguise the product during test drives ahead of its release.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk also isn't a fan of the traditional look of Ford trucks. Last week, Musk's biographer, Walter Isaacson, said during an interview with CNBC's Squawk Box that the billionaire decided to create the Cybertruck in the first place because he thought the automaker's trucks were "boring."
The Tesla CEO also commented on the F-150 Lightning pickup truck last week after the company lowered its prices for the vehicle. He called it a "good vehicle, just somewhat expensive" on X.
And Musk isn't the only one to comment on the impending rivalry between the two vehicles. Last month, Ford CEO Jim Farley appeared to take a dig at the Cybertruck, dubbing it a vehicle "for Silicon Valley people" during an interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer.
The Cybertruck will be Tesla's first electric pickup truck. Up until recently, Ford has been one of few automakers to produce an EV pickup truck. Last year, Ford said it delivered over 13,000 electric F-150 trucks as the company worked to ramp up production and fulfill about 200,000 reservations. The EV pickup truck startup Rivian also has a jump on the market. Rivian has delivered just over 29,000 electric vehicles since 2021 and last year the company said it had a waitlist of over 114,000 pre-orders. Tesla has the majority of the overall EV market in the US, but the market for pickup trucks is one of the most lucrative in the country.
Musk has said the carmaker plans to start delivering the Cybertruck within the year, but the company has yet to release pricing for the vehicle.
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