While Munro & Associates CEO Sandy Munro loved it, according to a recent WardAuto article, “critics had a field day ripping into the design” of Tesla’s new Cybertruck. However, according to auto expert John McElroy, they missed a critical point: the design enables Tesla to eliminate most of the tooling costs.
According to McElroy, “The body is an exoskeleton, which is to say, the body panels are welded together to form the structure of the truck. This is not body-on-frame construction like a conventional pickup truck, nor a collection of panels bolted and welded into a unitized body shell like a typical car or crossover. Instead, it’s a different way of constructing a vehicle, which no other major automaker has ever done.”
This approach, according to Munro, will save Tesla $60 million (for a 50,000 unit-a-year run) by eliminating blanking and stamping dies compared with traditional ways of making trucks.
And that’s just the start! For more insight into the cost saving opportunities the Cybertruck affords, check out the full article here: https://www.wardsauto.com/technology/cybertruck-s-low-costs-will-save-tesla-millions