The Tesla Cybertruck – set to go into production later this year – has been spied on the road in California, with the tester apparently putting the electric ute’s steering through its paces.
In a video posted by The Kilowatts on Twitter, a pre-production Cybertruck is shown making a tight u-turn before driving away and later making aggressive steering manoeuvres – which are likely part of a testing procedure – further down the road before a hard right turn.
The driver appears to have total control of the vehicle while testing its violent steering movements.
The tweet caught the eye of both Tesla shareholder Matthew Donegan-Ryan and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Mr Donegan-Ryan posted on Twitter, “The #cybertruck four wheel steering in action. This thing will have the turning radius of a #ModelY”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk then retweeted: “Perhaps better than a Y in turning”.
Although we don’t see the final turn, Musk’s remarks suggest the ute could have one of the smallest turning radiuses in its segment.
The Tesla Model Y is 4749mm long and offers a 12.1m turning radius.
Tesla’s Cybertruck is expected to measure 5867mm long and after Mr Musk’s comments, it’s expected to offer a smaller turning circle.
Earlier this month, Tesla previewed a pre-production Cybertruck at its Investor Day.
The ute concept was originally revealed in 2019 and has seen changes to its physical appearance since then, including the addition of triangular side mirrors and modified bumpers.
It has also received a slightly more conventional oval-shaped steering wheel that offers a flat top and bottom, as well as updates to the centre console for extra storage.
Volume production timing for the Cybertruck was outlined by Elon Musk in a January quarterly investor session. At the moment production at Tesla’s factory in Texas is expected to kick off during the middle of 2023, before ramping up in 2024.
Tesla has removed the option to reserve a Cybertruck from its website but prior to this customers could choose from three variants and place a deposit of $150 to secure the ute.
Specifications were also removed from Tesla’s website late in 2021, with the Cybertruck previously listed as being available in single-motor rear-wheel drive and dual- and tri-motor all-wheel drive variants.
Payload was a claimed 1600kg across the range.
The tri-motor AWD option was advertised as having a claimed 800km of range, towing capacity of 6400kg, and a claimed 0-60mph (96.6km/h) of 2.9 seconds.
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