One of China‘s ‘Big Four’ automakers has unveiled a new, all-electric ‘concept’ truck, and it looks uncannily like Tesla‘s iconic, but controversial Cybertruck.
Bearing the working title ‘2024 Concept Pickup truck,’ China’s knock-off Cybertruck would likely carry a price far cheaper than Tesla’s luxury vehicle, based on China’s billions in electric vehicle (EV) subsidies.
The model on display this week at the 2024 Beijing auto show boasted a pop-out tent over a mattress in its truck bed, protected by a heftier but more-rounded silver metal body, plus a full-length rear LED that conveys messages to passing motorists.
This stiff new competition comes as Tesla has issued a sweeping recall of over 4,000 Cybertrucks — citing safety issues with the EV’s accelerator pedal cover, which owners discovered can slide off and become snagged on the carpet.
The flaw has been found to lock Cybertruck’s pedals in place, plunging the futuristic, stainless-steel behemoth out of control at top speed.
Bearing the working title ‘2024 Concept Pickup truck,’ China’s knock-off Cybertruck (above) would likely carry a price far cheaper than Tesla’s luxury vehicle, based on China’s billions in electric vehicle (EV) subsidies
The model on display this week at the 2024 Beijing auto show boasted a pop-out tent over a mattress in its truck bed, protected by a heftier but more-rounded silver metal body, plus a full-length rear LED that conveys messages to passing motorists
Above, a look at the ‘concept’ truck’s a full-length rear LED – greeting all with ‘Hello, Beijing’
Wuhan-based Dongfeng, which built the Cybertruck-esque concept EV, sells over 2 million cars each year, primarily via cooperative ventures with foreign automakers, including Japanese-owner Honda and Nissan, and France-based Peugeot.
Like Tesla’s Cybertruck, Dongfeng’s concept truck comes with a blunt, wedge-shaped or ‘sledgehammer’ design, a steep snubbed nose up front, and a cargo bed above the back wheels.
While China is currently Tesla’s biggest market outside of the United States, the company’s billionaire owner, Elon Musk, has noted that it would be ‘very difficult‘ to get his novel Cybertruck ‘road legal’ in the Asian country.
The interior of the Dongfeng’s Cybertruck knockoff remains a mystery however.
Unlike the rest of the communist state-owned EV-maker’s lineup at the Beijing show, Dongfeng’s ‘concept’ truck was cordoned off preventing attendees from peeking inside the windows or opening its doors.
