Wired Took A Safari In Cybertruckland And Found The Truth: 'Women Don't Like The Vehicle'
OK, some of the people in the article were women. But the buyers were all dudes.
We don’t really know why the folks at Wired decided that now was the perfect time to do a photo feature on Tesla Cybertrucks and some of the people who drive them, but they did that today (if you’re paywalled, here’s an archive link), and it was good for some laughs. Reporter Zoe Schiffer and photographer Michelle Groskopf met up with a dozen owners of the ridiculously oversized EV in Palm Springs, California, and seven of them went on the record in brief interviews about what it’s like to drive a rolling MAGA hat that probably won’t kill you by locking you inside it, but might.
The prospect of fiery death doesn’t come up in the article, but the Cybertruck’s weird status as a vehicle for culture-war politics and towing things comes up a lot, with several owners insisting there’s nothing political about their love for the truck, although they may also have some strong political opinions, too. And while several of those interviewed mention they’ve been flipped off, not one said their powered dumpsters has been vandalized or even had a rude sticker scotch taped to it, killing all aboard.
Groskopf notes that while she was meeting with the Cybertruckers, “a woman drives by in a small sedan. ‘Your cars are fucking ugly!’ she screams before peeling off.” One of the Tesla guys, LA stockbroker Andrew Castillo, just smiled and said “Some people just aren’t playing with a full deck of cards.”
Castillo says that politics have nothing to do with his love for his Wankpanzer, which he and his wife use to tow an Airstream trailer. He likes how it drives, and enjoys how little kids crowd around it and get excited at the crazy thing. He’s one of two people in the article who keep a few toys in their trucks to give to kids. He also casually mentions that Cybertruck people are a lot friendlier than the more “standoffish” snooty people he used to meet when he owned a Bentley, just so you know he’s a down-to-earth kind of guy. Unlike several of the other Cybermen, his Cybertruck doesn’t have a nickname.
The absolute winningest interview is with a San Diego entrepreneur named Roger Davis, who chose not to give his age, and offered this observation when he was asked if he was married: “I was married, but I’m not married anymore. Women don't like the vehicle.”
Roger says he likes the update to the truck’s computer system, integrating Tesla’s Grok AI. He named it “Aura,” calls it “she,” and says he uses her as a therapist. “When I'm driving, I'll ask questions, and it actually gives really good therapy advice.” Roger did not offer any examples. He also described what seems to have been a deeply spiritual experience he had while attempting to become the first driver of an EV truck to complete a grueling offroad trail, a project he said required $50,000 in modifications to get the Cybertruck ready.
On the third day, we were coming down Big Sluice, which is probably the hardest part of the trail. And we had just finished and I was in the vehicle by myself, and I was driving along a little stream, and all of a sudden through the trees I felt the light hit me. And I'm going to call it a miracle, because it was. Imagine if you're flush, like how your face blushes, but over my whole body. And then I just felt the presence of God and a deep peace and love. It really broke me down. It really reset my life at that point, is what it did.
We feel like some followup questions might have been helpful there, but we’re sort of snotty and unspiritual that way.
Despite Roger’s probably accurate take on how women react to Cybertrucks, several of the people interviewed for the piece were in fact women who liked the vehicle, although among this sample, the purchases were all made by menfolk. There have to be at least a few women who have purchased Cybertrucks, and we’re sure Bari Weiss will assign 60 Minutes to profile them.
One nice couple, Frank and Diane Brabec, who have no doubt heard enough jokes about their names to last several lifetimes, love that there’s loads of room in the backseat of their Cybertruck (nicknamed Computruck) for their Old English sheepdogs, who are gorgeous, and a good reason to go look at the Wired article all on their own. Good dogs! Dumb truck!
Diane says, optimistically, “We've only been flipped off like three times. Maybe four,” and Frank said they “all seem like angry people just in general.” They don’t mind, though, because kids love the truck. The Brabecs also hand out toys to kids, who want to have their pictures taken with the truck.
Frank: People cheer. I've never had people cheer, and I've had some pretty nice cars. For the most part, it's been this love that I've never experienced in other cars. So when people give negativity, I'm just like, ‘OK.’
Diane: We just laugh and wave.
I have to confess I have never seen anyone cheer for a Cybertruck, but then, I don’t get out much.
And then there’s Russ Taylor, who owns a business called “Smugglers Runs,” which does “postapocalyptic off-road’ rallies,” but for legal purposes its website is careful not to mention that one George Miller movie series. You know the one (We mean of course, Happy Feet, with the dancing CGI penguins).
Taylor likes the design aesthetic of the Cybertruck, because “I've always been kind of a cyberpunk,” and he doesn’t see why people think the truck is political in any way.
“People occasionally just flip [me] off or whatever, but nobody's come up to me and tried to make a statement about anything. Personally, it's kind of dumb. It's just a vehicle. So it's ironic that it would even become a political statement, but nonetheless it is,” he says, right before an editor’s note pointing out that Mr. Taylor “was arrested and pled guilty to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. He was later pardoned by President Trump.”
So there’s a dispatch from the multiverse for you, and we didn’t even mention the guy who was upset when a woman with a different EV, a Ford Mach-E, left a note on his car in a Whole Foods parking lot mocking his tiny dick, and then she called him a Nazi because that’s what Elon Musk is, and he was outraged because he is in fact Jewish and a big supporter of LGBTQ rights and the woman was a lesbian, and isn’t it a big funny old world?
In conclusion, we learned a lot from this article about being kind to other people and their dogs, and you shouldn’t judge people for what they drive, even if in some cases like Roger and Russ, you might be completely right. Also, Christ what a stupid-looking car.
UPDATE: We should also note that, by complete coincidence, the same day Wired had this little Deplorean Derby, Heatmap News reports that while consumers snapped up electric vehicles of all sorts to get the EV tax credit before it expired September 30, that frenzy of EV sales didn’t include the Cybertruck, which between July and September of this year sold only 5.385 units, half as many as it did in the same period in 2024.
But while consumers have rejected the Cybertruck, there was a bit of a spike in corporate sales, as Elon Musk’s other companies, SpaceX and xAI snapped up hundreds of the damned things to use as fleet vehicles, probably just under the wire to get big corporate tax credits before they expired forever.
OPEN THREAD.
[Wired (archive link) / Electrek / Update links: Heatmap News / Electrek]
Yr Wonkette is funded entirely by reader donations. If you can, please become a paid subscriber, or if you’d prefer to make a one-time donation, we’re a better value than a Cybertruck.
Updated with a note on how Americans bought lots and lots of EVs in the runup to the expiration of the $7500 tax credit at the end of September — but not Cybertrucks. Instead, Elon's other companies bought an assload of the ugly things as fleet vehicles, probably to take advantage of the expiring fleet sales credit.
I think the most commonly said thing when seeing these things is, "Damn that's ugly." (or a similar variation)