Tesla Color Wraps May Save the Cybertruck From Its Weird Self
Tesla Inc. designed its stainless-steel Cybertuck to be something special: the first vehicle for the masses that doesn't require paint. It's no easy feat. The only other company to come close, DeLorean, sold just 9,000 cars before filing for bankruptcy in 1982.
When Tesla starts Cybertruck deliveries on Thursday, though, it may have a devised a cheat that DeLorean couldn't: color wraps. A decorative film applied to the vehicle's exterior — and a lucrative upsell Tesla has been trying out in California — could soften the edges of a vehicle seen as too harsh for mainstream buyers.
“It looks a lot more attractive with these wraps on it,” says Jessica Caldwell, head of insights for Edmunds, while scrolling through images of Cybertruck test vehicles spotted with custom prints. Across the auto industry, there's been a notable shift toward boxy “masculine” automotive designs, compared to the bubble-shaped SUVs that have long dominated, Caldwell says. Tesla just went “maybe a bit too far.”
Wrapping vehicles in colorful coatings is nothing new. Wraps can make a Ferrari look like a chrome-plated bullet or transform a sketchy work van into a luminous billboard for lawn-care services. While some people think the Cybertruck looks like a refrigerator on wheels, others will see a blank canvas.
Most wraps require custom installations performed by third-party garages. In an industry first, Tesla quietly started offering in-house wraps for the Model 3 and Model Y in October — a possible trial run ahead of the first Cybertruck deliveries. The company has yet to say whether wraps will be offered for the Cybertruck specifically, but when asked in 2020 whether the truck would be available in color, Musk replied, “You will be able to wrap it in
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