Cyberlies

By
eric
-
55
1907
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You may remember when ElonMusk claimed one million people – say “million” like Dr. Evil from Austin Powers said it – had placed reservations for a Cybertruck. That is, had paid to get in line to buy one.

Well, something fishy this way comes – as seems to be the common thread when it comes to Musk and his claims.

So far, about 46,000 Cybertrucks have been delivered since its launch last year. That is a lot less than one million Cybertrucks. But it is a lot of money. One hundred million dollars, to be precise. Say it (again) like Dr. Evil does. That is the sum collected – $100 per reservation – for one million reservations, assuming that’s how many people actually did make (and pay for) those reservations.

It seems improbable, if only because there probably aren’t one million people with the means to actually buy a Cybertruck – which has a base price of just shy of $80,000. That’s about $10k more than a 2025 Rivian R1T electric truck, which is probably the device most similar to the Cybertruck. Total Rivian production – including its other device, the R1S – is about 153,000 so far. That is, since 2022– which was the first year Rivian began offering its devices for sale.

Last year, Rivian sold about 51,580 devices in total.

This jibes with the cost of the devices. And it isn’t just devices. It’s the cost. Consider the Cadillac Escalade, which is an SUV rather than a device and the best-selling of its type. Yet Cadillac only sold about 41,672 of them last year. Probably because there are only so many people who can afford to spend nearly $90k on a vehicle – or a device. Keep in mind it’s not just the cost of the vehicle – or the device. One must also pay the cost of insuring the vehicle – or the device – and a vehicle (or a device) that sells for $80-90k is likely to cost several thousand dollars more on top of that every year, for coverage.

Put another way, vehicles – and devices – in this price range are never going to be sold in the millions. The proposition is absurd.

Yet it was believed – when Elon made the claim that one million people had ponied up $100 each to place a reservation for a new Cybertruck. Because it was reported – over and over by the Lugenpresse. And that’s how you get people to beeeelieve. Say it like Ernest Angley used to.

This ginned up a lot of hype – which as any good salesman knows is essential to selling stuff. Especially when you’re selling bullshit.

Elon excels at selling that.

Does anyone remember that he promised the Cybertruck was going to sell for about half what its base price turned out be? Or when he promised there would be a $25,000 Tesla – three years ago? How about the bullshit he spreads about FSD – “full self-driving” – tech? About how safe it is? Even Leftists – who as recently as a year or so ago venerated both Musk and Tesla – have begun to smell that smell. And then there’s the Cybertruck, itself- which (you’ll recall) was supposed to have “armored” side glass that could not be smashed as well as a stainless steel exoskeleton.

Turns out the glass does smash – and the Cybertruck’s stainless steel exterior panels are glued to a conventional unibody chassis. The panels apparently have a tendency to come unglued, too. “Many owners are reporting trims flying off the supposedly ‘bulletproof’ electric truck,” reports the EV Fanboi site, Elektrek.

There is now apparently a “containment hold” on deliveries of this device. Maybe more (or stronger) glue? Tesla has already recalled 11,000 of these devices – a third of the total sold so far – on account of trim that “detaches” while the vehicle is moving, apparently due to the wind overpowering the glue holding the panels in place.

But maybe Elon did get a million people to pony up $100 each to buy a reservation, playing on the speculative greed of people who thought they might be able to cash in on the hype. These reservations, you see, could be sold and the sell was that maybe by getting one of those $100 reservations, you could turn around and sell it to some fool who beeeeelieves for a lot more than $100. In other words, another multi-level marketing scam like the ones that draw in the greedheads for the presentation given down at the Holiday Inn’s conference room.

Of course, the majority of these greedheads are dupes. The only ones making bank are the greedheads running the scam. Which brings us back to Musk. If it is true that he actually did get a million people to pony up $100 each to get in line for a Cybertruck, he pocketed $100 million without having to come up with anything – besides bullshit.

That’s damn impressive. PT Barnum eat your heart out.

Both put on a good show – and that seems to be what this is all about. Including Musk’s latest show, this expose of waste and corruption – and his project to make government more efficient.

Mark the italics.

Musk is not saying less government.

But people hear what they want t hear, especially when it emanates from someone they believe in. Ask any TV evangelist. Come forth and be heay-uhld!

Or just ask Elon.

. . .

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Related posts:
  1. Cybertruck vs. DeLorean
  2. Another $60k-plus to start EeeeeeeeVeeeeee
  3. Don’t Burn Devices
  4. Missing the 1 Million Mark . . .
  5. Less Than Ludicrous Speed

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55 COMMENTS

  1. Lots of hate for Elon here.

    I’m no Tesla fan, but lots of folks like them and the Cybertruck design was bold – that was the whole point.

    That he seems willing to sacrifice Tesla for reforming the broken US financial/payment system seems quite admirable to me.

    • Hi David,

      It’s not hate for Elon. It’s hate for rent-seeking and lying. The difference matters.

      The Left likes to shut people up by characterizing criticism as “hate.” I hate seeing our side using the same tactics.

    • I agree, lots of hate for Elon here. I don’t think criticizing Musk and Trump all day does anything for our side. I think deep down a flag is set off saying “don’t say anything good about billionaires” and the baby gets thrown out with the bath water.

      • Morning, Steve –

        “Hate” has nothing to do with mentioning facts. The Left loves to frame people’s motives in order to avoid discussing the facts. I don’t have any problem with billionaires who earn their money via free exchange. Elon is not one of those.

  2. Eric,

    With all the new vehicles you’ve had the chance to test drive over the years, have you ever received a Tesla Cybertruck for test driving?

    • Cyyybeerruuuuukk review:
      What’s good: MDS matches the TDS.
      What’s not so good: It makes my teeth ache.
      The rest: Pending litigation for libel.

      Given their real reputation for suing reviewers, I doubt he’s asked, even if we’d all like to see it.

      • Hi Steve,

        Eric may never get to test drive a Cybertruck, but IIRC, someone did post a video of driving one out in the woods but while driving it in the woods, the Cybertruck got stuck in an area so he had to have someone bring a GAS powered truck out to tow his Cybertruck out.

      • Hi Steve,

        Reviewing devices comes down to: This one is this shape and that one is that shape. This one has a 10.3 inch touchscreen and that one has an 11 inch touchscreen.

    • Hi John,

      Nope! Tesla – as far as I know – does not loan out press cars as the other manufacturers do. Tesla has – up to now – relied on the endless free (and positive)) publicity it gets via the Lugenpresse. I’d be reluctant to drive one regardless given Elon’s the real driver – and might send an “update” to the device ordering it to drive me into a tree at 100 MPH!

  3. Seeing more and more of these in our AO all the time. Pretty sure they are just as fire prone and deadly as the common Tesla. Buying into Elon’s folly is another way the die hard Trumper can show his solidarity with Holocaustianity. Elon should give one cyber-truck away everyday until his sins are washed away.

  4. Tariff Lies

    ‘President Trump has announced a 25% tariff on all cars not made in the US. Trump confirmed that these new tariffs are in addition to existing tariffs and are expected to result in $100 billion in revenues.

    “This will continue to spur growth,” Trump told reporters. To underscore his seriousness, Trump said, “This is permanent.”

    “Our automobile industry will flourish like it’s never flourished before,” Trump commented, seemingly unflapped by the possibility of retaliation.’

    https://tinyurl.com/n228ckmu

    How do we know that the Orange Oracle of Oafishness is wrong? Because shares of GM and Ford — the alleged beneficiaries of his tariff protection — are getting smashed to shit in aftermarket trading.

    Trump’s asinine, amateurish blunder is the death knell of the global auto industry. Half of its producers will disappear in the next five years. So much losing.

    Tariffs were an important factor that aggravated the Confederacy into seceding in 1861.

    Death to the Republiclown wing of the Uniparty.
    Death to the party of Lincoln.

    • Trump doesn’t get it. Nobody’s going to retool in America for MORE cars nobody wants because of regulations. Ford and GM don’t want us slaves driving though and are probably going to shutter their doors before letting Trump get a whiff of what he could do for consumer freedom. Somebody needs to spell it out for them. I pray one day Eric gets on a big show and runs the message up the chain. That’s never going to happen because he’s too busy criticizing Musk all day. Some of it deserved for sure yeah. I’d like to see Eric do a video “Emergency Message to Donald Trump” and just lay out what he would do if he were writing an E.O.

  5. Elon made a mistake by only asking for $1 thousand dollars to ‘reserve’ the Cybertruck.

    He should have gone for the full price up front, as he did with the Roadster, which according to him was ‘ready for production’ back in 2017.

    Those 1 thousand fanbois who paid him the $250,000 are still waiting for their car. As do those tens of thousands who paid $10-15,000 for the ‘full autonomous self-driving software’.

    All in all, a nice scam, which proves Elon can, and does, fool most of his customers all of the time.

    And that he has been able to get away with it for this long only shows that he truly is an inside, ‘made’ man.

  7. Enron Musk is just another clown in the Orange Man circus.

    Does the credit go to his publicist?
    How exactly does a dyed-in-the-wool Deep State creature become a newly minted MAGA Messiah so quickly?

    One of my favorite parts of this sh!t show are the Christian conservatives that always speak of “family values” and how normally unmarried African-Americans with 14 kids by a dozen women are worthy of disdain.
    But when that person is a whitey, who pumps their stock portfolios and 401ks with eye watering market caps based on fake robots, that type of “Johnny Appleseed” behavior can quickly be overlooked.

    There’s far more to it all than any media outlet would ever dare or care to figure out.

    • “Enron Musk is just another clown in the Orange Man circus.”

      That made me laugh, Enron Musk, because we know how Enron ended – as Tesla may also. I saw Musk sitting next to Trump balancing 3 spoons, and yes, the oval office is an orange circus.

      https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/elon-musks-balancing-act-goes-viral-internet-praises-him-for-being-himself-7995580

      I have called him Elron Musk after the Scientologist guy El Ron Hubbard. The Left drank the Musk koolaid and now they are mad hatters. Tonight I saw these hand made carboard signs stapled to a picket fence in the libtard town I live, the signs said “NO TESLA PARKING”.

      • NO TESLA PARKING signs in my town is a real laugh, because just a few years ago at the uppity natural food store, the left virtue signallers had ditched their hybrid Prius devices for Teslas. Going to the co-op was to watch a procession of elderly hippies in their earth colored “threads”, dreads in a bun, with cars with Grateful Dead and ‘Billionaires Can’t Buy Bernie’ stickers. A real sight for how incredibly vain the Left is, and dead serious about their insane beliefs like LBGTQ and tranny woke beliefs – and they have a visceral hatred for Trump for all the wrong reasons. Everyone of them has those stupid yellow-blue Ukrainium flags. I SUPPORT UKRAINE whatever that means. They support Biden who supports Ukraine which has led to the complete destruction of Ukraine and massive loss of life, and now they peacenik hippies are mad as hell that Trump cut funds off. Makes no sense at all.

  8. I love classic cars….own 2 of them myself…….but…..I want a cybertruck! I am a huge science fiction fan and think that the cybertruck is like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.
    I would take the body off the frame and put it on a frame with a big lovely, powerful V-8 engine, then I would go rev it up in front of the Tesla dealership!!!!!! TAKE THAT YOU BATTERY BOYS!!!!!!!!!!

  9. The thing is, we do need someone getting rid of the graft, slush funds, fraud, and the waste.

    But Elon Musk?

    Musk himself is one of the biggest grifters out there. Tesla, Space X and his solar and battery “businesses” are all paid for by taxpayers. That’s why he is a billionaire. If he had to put his own money into those things, he would go broke. Quickly!

    He would have gotten some credibility if he had on day one cut his own grift. But of course he didn’t and won’t.

  12. Elon Musk spoke of making government “more efficient” upon joining DOGE. Someone made the case that that, unfortunately, could result in the federal government being more efficient at authoritarianism & tyranny, which would NOT be good, especially after what we were forced to endure the past 5 years under guise of stopping a respiratory virus that, lest people forget, had an infection fatality rate of LESS than 1% for healthy people under 70, or, more recently (which is STILL going on in states such as Oregon, California, New York, etc.) “Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaving the planet from cliiiiiiiiiiiimate change”.

    I also find it (to quote Mr. Spock) fascinating how people who call themselves LIBERAL LOVED Elon Musk & Teslas prior to 2025 but now HATE them, and how many people who call themselves CONSERVATIVE HATED Musk prior to 2025 but now LOVE him, and some of them are even buying Teslas. However, when it comes to Musk, what they conveniently forget is that Musk is still a technocrat who apparently still pushes some if not all of the technocrat wet dreams.

    There are many reason I’d NEVER buy a Tesla, even to virtue signal “I love Trump & Musk”. Reasons include the fact that most people can’t even afford one. I certainly couldn’t. Another reason is the various issues with them that we KNOW about. The Jimmy Dore Show had a segment last year on some of the issues with the Cybertruck, and the weekly news show Full Measure ran a story a few years ago on the issues involving Tesla’s Autopilot system. I also personally find Teslas ugly (especially the Cybertruck). I’m also skeptical of EVs as well as gas vehicles made within the past 10 years or so.

    • The only good use for a Cybertruck is for that Whistling Diesel guy on YouTube to test it. It was the only honest test of that “truck” I ever saw.

      • Hi Landru,

        I wish I had the means to do such testing myself! Any really rich people out there reading this, want to finance such tests? I promise to be fair…

      • Hi Landru,

        I also saw in a video last year that the doors & hood on the Cybertrucks have edges sharp enough to slice vegetables or even someone’s hand.

        • Hi John:

          The sharp edges aren’t a major problem as the body panels fall off. Just remember to wear gloves when dropping the panels in your shop’s metal bin though.

      • Those two Whistling Diesel videos on it are good. He broke it pretty badly (honestly, if the F150 hadn’t kept breaking its driveshaft it would have been no contest). Pulling the back of the frame (cast aluminum, seriously?) apart was ridiculous – 11,000 lbs towing, yeah right. But as Eric has pointed out many times, EV trucks and towing make no sense so it’s not likely one will ever actual tow anything.

        But there was some things didn’t break. Like strapping C4 on it or when they went nuts on it as though it was in the middle of a riot it held up pretty well, so the “bulletproof” skin may have some truth to it.

        • Hi Terry,

          I was one of the few people on our side – so to speak – who didn’t hate the Prius when most people on our side mocked it as a Geek-wagon for the virtue-signaling Left. I thought it was a fine little economy car; nothing wrong with inexpensive and 50-plus MPG. But Teslas? They are effronterous beyond my capacity to articulate. If I could afford to buy one to shoot it in my back field, I would…

          • Toyota managed to make it work, unlikely anybody else. Even if the batteries die, you can still drive it, though few broke like that (a lot less than I thought would). People made fun of the ugly look and the loony leftists that became its known buyers.

            If I was looking at a car, I would probably consider one, now that they aren’t butt ugly. Most people don’t even notice it’s a Pruis anymore.

          • The problem with the Prius is that it’s t quickly became THE car to virtue signal that you bought the climate change lie and that you were doing your virtuous part to help. I didn’t hate the car for what it was but rather for what it was virtue signaling about.

            But you are correct that if you believe the climate lie, a small light vehicle is the way to lead the charge. Unfortunately the Prius is only small and not that light which is why it takes a hybrid power train to obtain its fuel economy numbers.

            • Except a Prius isn’t good for the environment. It still has a 4 cylinder Toyota engine, which means it also gets 50 miles to the gallon in oil as well as gas.

      • WhistlinDiesel knows how to wreck stuff, just a complete mess after the damage is done.

        Hauling concrete blocks in the cargo bay of cybertruck and driving like crazy was hilarious.

        Used a pry bar to peel off the stainless steel skin on a CyberTruck.

        Very entertaining.

  13. ‘Devices’ … *sigh*

    ‘Most likely it was [National Security Advisor Mike] Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, who created the [leaked] group chat and accidentally added [journalist Jeffrey] Goldberg (JG) instead of [US Trade Representative] Jamieson Greer (JG).’

    https://images2.imgbox.com/1f/b0/UvlQXlw5_o.jpg

    Stupid iPhone! This kind of fat-finger error happens to me all the time, as the phone does things I didn’t intend it to.

    Whoops — didn’t mean to tap the ‘launch nukes’ button. Sorry y’all! 🙁

  14. Betcha’ most people don’t know PT Barnum is proudly featured on US legal tender currency.

    BS you say.

    No seriously he’s on a 1936 commemorative half dollar.

    https://tinyurl.com/2ffh5fux

    Elon should be placed on the 100 dollar bill which has become the new twenty.

    I’d put Trump on the one dollar bill given what a cheap shill he is. He’s truly as worthless as a dollar bill has become.

    All USSA currency should have scam artists on it as tribute to the massive scam the Federal Reserve is running. Hmm . . . I guess this is already true given the penchant for putting dead presidents on currency.

  15. ‘Of course, the majority of these greedheads are dupes.’ — eric

    ‘Four additional USAF B-2 Spirit stealth bombers are heading to Diego Garcia, raising the total to seven—an unprecedented buildup of these strategic assets at the base.’ — news report

    ‘Let’s you and him fight.’ — Netanyahu to Orange War Daddy, as OWD gears up to bomb, bomb, bomb Iran, in the immortal words of Senator Johnny McShame.

    It’s a big club of greedheads … and we ain’t in it.

    • Geez, one 5 kT thermonuclear warhead fire from a destroyer or sub-launched cruise missile would take out a third of the USAF’s strategic bombers, and no one would give a shit that the once-idyllic tropical island in the Indian Oceans would then be glowing in the dark.

  16. I don’t know what’s scarier people believing a word that Musk says regarding sales projections of the ugliest “truck” ever built or reports that Trump thinks it’s a good idea to join the British Commonwealth?

    https://www.gbnews.com/royal/king-charles-usa-commonwealth-donald-trump-state-visit

    https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/king-charles-donald-trump-invite-commonwealth-membership-13874333.html

    https://nypost.com/2025/03/21/us-news/trump-suggests-us-could-be-associate-member-of-british-commonwealth-i-love-king-charles/

    I heard this first from the Economic Ninja and it appears to be true.

    Why are our elected leaders always doing stuff that they never ran on?

  17. “Last hour of the show, at around the 45 minute mark.”

    Hannity calls the last hour of his show, “The Information Overload Hour”, a reference to the old Neal Boortz show.

    Don’t be fooled. Hannity is not Boortz.

    When Boortz and Hannity had rival shows in Atlanta, Boortz, originally a lawyer, pinned the name Cutie Pie on Hannity, which I think summarizes the schtick.

  18. Elon got a million people to sign up for a *$40,000* truck, and that price was before the implied tax credits.

    $40,000 was a magic number before the pandemic. That wasn’t an accident. In the distorted interest rate environment of 2019, with a lot of creativity in the F&I room, the big Chevy dealer here in town — now owned by Warren Buffett, BTW — would get Papi into a Silverado at the $500/mo. payment Mama set as the limit walking into the dealership.

    Of course, the four cylinder turbo charged engine would eventually go splody mated to the 10 speed transmission, but Papi had his “man” vehicle … at least for a little while.

    Ford took reservations promising the F150 Lightning at the same price point.

    Why mess around with GM grift when grift from Elon and Tommy Boy at Ford offered the future for $100?

    BTW, @Eric — Yesterday’s obvious plant caller on the Hannity show was talking up how her son who wanted to “do something” to help Elon so he bought TSLA stock.

    Last hour of the show, at around the 45 minute mark.

    Buy the dip!

    Hannity is shameless.

    • “ her son who wanted to “do something” to help Elon so he bought TSLA stock.”
      Unreal, the serfs are so brainwashed they feel the need to “help” a multibillionaire grifter

  19. ‘Maybe more (or stronger) glue?’ — eric

    *huffs from a paper bag doped with a full tube of Testers airplane glue*

    ‘Oh yeahhh …‘

    *keels over and faceplants*

  20. Oral Roberts could heal the infirm.

    Oral was even on TV, he cried out to the afflicted to heal.

    heal… heal… heal… Oral would shout.

    You just have to believe. You will dream of a 700 foot Jesus skyscraper at ORU.

    Moments with the Master in the Upper Room

    A sign off at midnight on Sunday nights on the local teevee station.

    Oral didn’t want to hurt a single soul, when you want someone to heal, they can regain their health.

    Elon is far from it. Too vain to be humble.

    Trump is too stupid to be alive.

    I would put Bibi in a headlock, hogtie his phony baloney torso and leave him right there in the ditch. A single-leg take down, then the immobilizing of the stupid dork.

    I’ll take Oral Roberts’ preaching long before listening to Bibi bellyache about everything.

    Jaded, as it were. Stop it.

    Elon should donate Bibi a CyberTruck so it can self-immolate immediately when Bibi is in the driver’s seat.

    Call it a cyber pager.

    Oral Roberts’ lies were more believable than Elon’s purported facts.

  21. Interesting that when the Left loved St. Elon of Musk Leftists controlled the GovCo that stayed off Tesla’s back and ignored the obvious deadly crap these devices were/are. Now that the Left wants to burn St. Elon at the stake, Elon is part of GovCo which stays off Tesla’s back.

    My, my, my, how the worm turns.

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