Tesla
- Tesla's Cybertruck has drawn both admiration and ridicule for its bizarre aesthetic.
- CEO Elon Musk has said the design was inspired by a 1977 James Bond car, sci-fi movie "Blade Runner", and a vehicle from the video game "Halo".
- Whether or not the rest of the industry follows Tesla's lead, it has gotten artists thinking about what cars from other automakers might look like.
- Here's how UK-based Leasing Options reimagined five iconic cars as if they had been designed to resemble the Cybertruck.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
When Tesla unveiled its futuristic Cybertruck last November, it certainly got credit for introducing a design that looked vastly different from anything else on the market.
Its wedge-like body drew praise from many big names in Silicon Valley, and less than a week after CEO Elon Musk debuted the truck, he tweeted that Tesla had received 250,000 pre-orders.
But the truck also instantly became a meme. Its allegedly extra-strong glass shattered during a demo and people compared it to everything from low-quality video games to rubber doorstops.
Spy cars and retro sci-fi designs inspired the CybertruckMicrosoft, YouTube/MovieClips, GettyMusk has pointed to several sources of inspiration for the Cybertruck's design. One, the Lotus Espirit, was a sleek car driven by James Bond in the 1977 film "The Spy Who Loved Me" that even transformed into a submarine. Musk loved the car so much he bought it at an auction for nearly $1 million.
Musk has also said he was inspired by vehicles in the sci-fi film "Blade Runner" and the Warthog, an iconic vehicle from the first-person shooter game series "Halo."
So far, other automakers haven't joined the bandwagon, but that hasn't stopped people from wondering what some of their popular models might look if they had followed Tesla's lead.
Leasing Options, an auto lending site based in the UK, did exactly that. The company reimagined five iconic cars — the Mini Cooper, Volkswagen Beetle, Jaguar F-Type, Bugatti Veyron, and Range Rover Evoque — with the Cybertruck's sharp corners.
Here's what they came up with.
The MINI Cooper's rounded design, which it has largely kept since its 1959 inception, is replaced by a squared-off top, headlights, and front grill.Leasing Options
Even in 2020, The MINI Cooper has stayed true in many ways to the original 1959 version, and Leasing Options wanted to pay homage to the British classic while also incorporating new ideas from Tesla.
"The challenge was to add elements of the Cybertruck while maintaining the iconic design elements of each car," Leasing Options sales and marketing director Mike Thompson told Business Insider.
Volkswagen's Beetle loses its bubble-shaped body in favor of wide, angular wheel hubs and a solar panel — but keeps its iconic rims.Leasing Options
Volkswagen killed the Beetle in 2018 after selling 23 million of them over an impressive 81-year run. In Leasing Options' Cybertruck revival, its legendary curves met their demise as well in favor of a boxier body — but the team kept the iconic wheel hubs "as a nod to the old design."
It also got a solar panel roof in fitting Tesla fashion (Musk hinted last year that the Cybertruck could have a solar roof option in the future).
Jaguar's F-Type, which itself got a revamp recently, has more aggressive lines that make it even sportier than its pre-Cybertrucked days.Leasing Options
Jaguar gave the F-Type an edgier look in its 2021 update, but Leasing Options took it a step further for the Cybertruck version, "with its classic styling thrown out the window."
While the grill design doesn't stray too far, the wheel hubs and tail lines stand out as much closer to something Musk and his team might dream up.
Bugatti's Veyron, once the fastest car in the world, tries to leverage the Cybertruck's aerodynamics for some additional top-end speed.Leasing Options
The Bugatti Veyron, once the world's fastest production car, turned 15 this year.
In Leasing Options' revamp, they kept its hallmark side vents, but traded in the Italian supercar's sleek, rounded body for a wedge-like front end clearly inspired by the Cybertruck.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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