Ford killed the F-150 Lightning because nobody wanted it. Tesla’s Cybertruck is selling even worse—but Elon Musk refuses to let it die. In this documentary, we uncover the hidden truth behind the spectacular collapse of the Tesla Cybertruck, how a promised $39,900 revolution turned into a depreciating six-figure nightmare, and how Musk is quietly using his own private rocket company to buy up unsold inventory just to keep the numbers from cratering.
among other things, what disappoints me the most about EVs on sale nowadays–and cybertruck is a GLARING posterchild for all these issues (and more!)–is all the stupid bells and whistles. the obscene and stupid upcharge for shit i don’t need and didn’t ask for.
i’m excited for the Slate truck because the climate control interface is MECHANICAL KNOBS AND DIALS!!! there’s no distracting pointlessly complicated “infotainment system”. there’s no infuriating touch screen locking away fundamental features like drive control - YEAH NO THANKS I’D LIKE TO GO FROM DRIVE TO PARK TO REVERSE WITHOUT HAVING TO POKE A GODDAMN SHEET OF GLASS OKAY???
i’ll opt for the power windows, MAYBE the tablet mount-
(so i can bring MY OWN that won’t be obsolete and unsupported by ugly dysfunctional proprietary software from the vehicle manufacturer that they don’t even update anymore within a year or two of purchase)
-and ALSO maybe the speakers since i like to listen to podcasts and music etc while i drive sometimes.
i don’t need a goddamn AI Datacenter on wheels.
I JUST WANT A MACHINE
THAT TURNS ELECTRICITY
INTO GOING SOMEWHERE.
The car market is so weird, plenty of cars like that in the rest of world.
Even Ford sells the Puma here, small electric car, but it’s not available in the US for some reason 😅
it’s a racket. most assuredly. the whole united states is a cash cow. an entire herd of captive consumers whom The Epstein Class expect to either a) BUY THE SLOP or b) DIE.
The Ford Puma is an suv, not a small electric car (I don’t like how tall it is, length is ok, tho), it starts at €30k (already including the government aid, and probably handing your old car) so hardly affordable. And the central console is just a massive touchscreen, the only buttons are on the wheel, lots of them, which the OC didn’t mention but I, personally, hate whit a passion.
The one and only Ford Puma
The new Puma is just a Mach-e
Definitely not an suv. It’s a compact crossover, which is marketing code for small 4 door car with hatchback. It has zero sport utility vehicle ability. Quick comparison, it’s basically a Mustang Mach-e but they changed the name for Europe.
SUV is literally how Ford is marketing it, in my country at least, I took it directly from their website.
This is one reason I drive a BMW i4. It’s got some gimmicks, sure, but it’s mostly just an EV that looks like a regular car.
There’s plenty of much cheaper regular-looking EVs outside North America, too. The US is too busy protecting the low-quality local car market to allow better, cheaper models to be sold in the country.
Looking at the top 10 selling EVe in the US, it’s Tesla with the top 2, then 5 vehicles you’d only know are EVs if you follow this stuff closely (looks like a normal crossover SUV from the outside, normal driving controls in the driver’s seat, mostly tactile buttons and knobs for controlling radio and climate), a Rivian, then 2 semi-normal vehicles.
It’s mainly crossover SUVs (Tesla 3 sedan and the Ford F-150 pickup being the main exceptions), but that’s mostly true of America’s top selling gasoline vehicles, too, at least after the pickups.
Interesting, I didn’t realize that so many popular EVs in the US just look like normal cars.
The US is only 5% of worldwide EV sales, and things are very different outside the USA! Out of the top 20 EVs worldwide last year, only three are sold in the USA - the Tesla Model 3 and Y, and the VW ID.4.
There’s big differences in price, too. The BYD Seagull (#5 most popular) is $8k in China or AU$24k (US$17k) including tax in Australia.
https://cleantechnica.com/2026/02/03/20-best-selling-ev-models-in-the-world-in-december-tesla-makes-an-increasingly-rare-1-2-win/
ok. Everyone says this on the Internet, but in the real world they buy a different car because of the color of the LEDs inside.
Car companies learned a long time ago to learn from sales, not what people say they want to buy.
I’ll refute that to say packages killed it. Bundling options together means that if you want this one specific feature, for example power windows, then that package also comes with cruise control, lane assist, infotainment screens, etc. It jumbles up the data.
I love my little BYD dolphin essential,
It’s everything I need without much that I don’t
I drive the dolphin from the company work this week, it was the first i drive a EV and automatic car at the same, it feels weird the lack of hand break but it does fine, only reforced to me buy a EV as my next car
Few hybrids have hand brakes these days, and even many combustion powered vehicles
It has a hand brake, but it’s electronically operated and I have it set to automatically operate, because there’s no benefit in not doing that