Tesla Planning an Electric Pickup Truck, Says Elon Musk 293
cartechboy writes "Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk says the company will make an electric pickup truck to compete with America's best-selling Ford F-Series pickups. Musk made the comment yesterday at the end of an interview at a tech conference in New York. Surrounded by questioners, Musk was asked if Tesla would ever make commercial fleet trucks (like for UPS or Fed Ex) and he responded that a consumer truck would be the company's best answer, because America's pickup truck sales numbers don't lie — that's what buyers want, and if Tesla wants to replace the most gasoline miles possible, that's what they should build. Musk said it will be about five years before the company builds its pickup however, giving it time to focus on another hurdle: breaking into the pickup market. Texas is where trucks rule, and Texas, as we know, is the Bermuda Triangle for Tesla." That also gives me five years to save up for one, and (just maybe) five years for Ford, et al to jump in, too.
Re:Hard market to break into (Score:5, Interesting)
A large factor in the derth of small pickups is the chicken tax [wikipedia.org], the stupidest protectionist law still on the books.
Re:Hard market to break into (Score:4, Interesting)
So the tax has been in place for 48 years but only recently caused manufacturers to drop these product lines....?
That doesn't actually make sense. Here is something that does;
Light trucks are now tallied as cars in the fleet average for the purposes of CAFE fuel economy regulation. Manufacturers can't make historical quantities of these vehicles because they hurt they average too much, so they've reduced production. Naturally, prices climb due to lack of supply.
Light trunks are low margin products for budget conscience buyers, so as prices climb buyers vanish, some heading to used car lots. Manufacturers can see [wardsauto.com] the writing on the wall for light trunks and they're pulling out.
"Because of the new CAFE guidelines, the most fuel-efficient segment for pickup trucks, the small ones, aren’t going to be available in the U.S. market."
— John Krafcik, president and chief executive officer of Hyundai Motor America
Re:Ford (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, what I see more than anything are short-beds with a full 4-door cab, instead of the extended cabs with small suicide doors that were popular for many years (one of which I own). The 4-door cab/short bed is a good compromise between hauling capacity and passenger comfort, and without the parking headaches of a full 8' bed.