Tesla intends to put the first examples of the Cybertruck into buyer hands before the end of this year. This has the truck doing all sorts of guarded publicity rounds as the production version prepares for debut. The Cybertruck Owners Club forum has kept up with just about everything, lately posting various videos and images of the stainless steel pickup at its highest suspension setting. The rave image above is from the Cyber Rodeo, where the Cybertruck was one of the starring attractions. The body looks like its on stilts and the wheels look diminutive, the illusion verified by a walkaround video. Tesla’s site says the adjustable air suspension can raise and lower the body 4 inches. We’re not sure what that says about ride height — whether the pickup can be driven when lowered 4 inches, or if that’s just for something like the truck’s squat mode that eases access to the “vault” bed. Another post with grainy video makes it appear the pickup can be driven after being raised 4 or more inches.
There are questions about the tire sizes, though. In the walkaround video, the tire brand has been effaced from the sidewall but certain lighting angles show shadows of “Goodyear.” Some guess the street-ish looking rubber is 32 inches. There could be a 35-inch package on offer, one forum post showing an extreme close-up on a tire sized 315/60 R 20. These appear to have the same demonstration wheels and these are perhaps demo-only tires, with their wide-spaced and rather shallow tread blocks. If any Cybertruck is on 35s, the best guess is the unit that video shows a Tesla crew gently driving onto a landscaped median at the new engineering center in Palo Alto, California. The tires don’t look so dwarfed by what they’re holding up.
Why all the fuss about this suspension anyway? Certainly, some buyers will plan to see just how much their truck can do; based on Cyberlandr pre-sales, there are going to be entire divisions of Cybertruck owners glamping in the nation’s forests. But company CEO Elon Musk replied to a Twitter question in 2020 about the all-new truck, “We’re working on increasing dynamic air suspension travel for better off-roading. Needs to kick butt in Baja.” Best believe that within a week of deliveries there will be crowds lined up in the desert with their phones held aloft to watch and record the Cybertruck take on the Ford F-150 Raptor R, Ram TRX, and Rivian R1T.
Everyone interested in the red T will be tuned in to the automaker’s Investor Day tomorrow, sponging up details of Musk’s “Master Plan 3.” Cybertruck fans, especially, will be hoping their genie is going to grant all their wishes.
