When Tesla unveiled its new pickup truck last Wednesday, many critics blasted it as ugly and impractical. But despite these criticisms, more than 200,000 people have put down a $100 deposit to reserve a spot in line for the new vehicle, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Sunday.

All-electric designs have helped every Tesla vehicle stand out from its competition, but Tesla’s Cybertruck is unconventional even by Tesla’s standards. Other pickup trucks are boxy, with a square cabin in the front and a flatbed in the back. The Cybertruck has a triangular design that looks a bit like the DeLorean in Back to the Future.

The new pickup is expected to begin production in about two years. Tesla says it will start at $39,900 for a model with 250 miles of range. A high-end model with 500 miles of range, three motors, and a 0-60 time of 2.9 seconds will cost $69,900.

The signup rate for Cybertruck pre-orders—200,000 orders in four days—isn’t quite as impressive as for the Model 3 in 2016. Tesla had received 150,000 pre-orders for the Model 3 within hours of the unveiling event and had 275,000 orders in hand a few days later.

Moreover, that comparison comes with a huge caveat: reserving a Model 3 required a $1,000 deposit, helping to ensure that only serious customers would put down a deposit. By contrast, Tesla is only asking Cybertruck purchasers to put down $100—a much lower level of commitment. So customer interest in the Cybertruck, while impressive, does not seem to be at Model 3 levels.

Interestingly, Tesla took the opposite tack when the company unveiled its Model Y SUV earlier this year: it asked for pre-order deposits of $2,500. That may be a good way to gauge which customers are serious about buying a vehicle, but it isn’t a good way to generate impressive sign-up numbers. As far as I can tell, Tesla hasn’t released any statistics on Model Y pre-orders.

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1623251