You can’t buy Tesla’s electric Cybertruck yet, but you can get a vehicle that looks pretty close. All you need is 666,666 rubles ($15,611) and a laidback attitude. Why a laidback attitude? The fake Tesla-branded hubcaps are probably going to fall off, judging by a new video of the thing tearing through a parking lot outside Moscow.
The knock-off Cybertruck is the work of a group of Russian YouTubers called Pushka Garazh who converted a Russian-made LADA hatchback into a wannabe Cybertruck. Think of it as less a retro-futuristic utility vehicle and more as a small car with spray-painted sheet metal welded on as a shell.
The car has been spotted on roads outside Moscow and has popped up on social media, giving plenty of onlookers a good laugh.
The single biggest problem with this faux-Cybertruck? It doesn’t have functioning side doors, which could be a problem in the minor event of something like a fire.
The only way to get inside is through the back, as you can see during this pit stop where people stopped to take pictures of the strange car.
The other name for something like this would be a death trap, of course.
But how did this group of pranksters make the thing? Lots of planning and hard work, and even some video game graphics software. The group published a 43-minute video to YouTube showing precisely how they turned their old car into this strange behemoth on a budget of roughly $1,700.
The group is clearly having fun converting an old Russian hatchback into the car of our dystopian dreams. Or nightmares, as it were. And it’s actually pretty fun to watch, since these guys clearly take car modifications seriously, even if they’re done on the cheap.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk first unveiled his new electric Cybertruck concept back in November at an event in Los Angeles that featured plenty of hiccups. Most notably, a demonstration of the car’s supposedly impact-proof glass showed that the Cybertruck’s windows are relatively easy to damage.
Musk was spotted just a couple of weeks later at a Malibu sushi restaurant, clearly wanting to get noticed. The Tesla founder definitely turned some heads, but not always in a good way. Musk ran over a sign while exiting the parking lot of the restaurant. The icing on the cake? The sign that Musk ran over was a left-turn only sign he bulldozed while making a right turn against some red lights.
There are still a lot of questions about what the real Cybertruck will ultimately look like when it’s finally released in “late 2021,”—at least that’s the projected date according to Musk. And it’ll be really interesting to see whether Tesla can deliver on its price-point. The least expensive version will supposedly cost just $US39,900 ($57,675), will tow up to 3,400 kg, and will be able to carry a 1,600 kg in its bed.
If you can’t wait until late 2021 and need your Cybertruck now, there’s always this fan-made version, assuming you can find a way to ship it from Russia to wherever you live.
At just $15,600, it’s quite a steal, though it can’t tow 3,400 kg. But much like the real Cybertruck, the fake Cybertruck doesn’t appear to have turn signals and side mirrors either. Now that’s what we call truly disruptive innovation.