Tesla has already made some pretty big claims about the Cybertruck, the biggest being that its stainless steel body is “bullet-resistant.” Now Elon Musk is saying that the Cybertruck is stiffer than a McLaren P1 – and that it can’t roll over.
During the delivery event in Austin, Musk said the Cyberruck is a “better truck than a truck, while also being a better sports car than a sports car.” To justify that, he claims that the torsional rigidity is greater than that of a P1 hypercar. Some of that stiffness could be contributed to the stainless steel panels, but Musk didn’t have any official numbers or details on the chassis to back up these claims.
It should be noted that the McLaren P1 debuted in 2012, which makes the now-discontinued hypercar more than a decade old. And the concept of torsional rigidity improves constnatly as material and production methods also improve. Many sports cars boast high-percentage gains in torsional rigidity every few years.
And as far as not being able to tip over; it’s unclear exactly how true that is (or how it’s even measured). But Musk says thanks to the Cybertruck’s extremely low center of gravity – much like the Model S – and wide stance, it’s unlikely to flip over even in a crash.
We’ll have more details on the Cybertruck as they come out.
