There is no such thing as bad PR, apparently, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk now claiming the electric car maker has received nearly 150,000 pre-orders for his ‘Cybertruck’, after its unveiling spawned a torrent of online mockery.
Two days after his car crash of a presentation (no pun intended) for the futuristic Cybertruck vehicle, Musk declared on Twitter that orders for the peculiar-looking electric car have soared.
On Saturday, Musk tweeted that the company has received 146,000 orders so far, with many of the customers, 42 percent, opting for the model with dual motors.
146k Cybertruck orders so far, with 42% choosing dual, 41% tri & 17% single motor
Bragging about the sales numbers, Musk noted that his latest creation’s success was not due to marketing, as the company did not run any ad campaign, nor did it pay for outside endorsement.
While that might be true, the presentation on Thursday, a spectacle in itself, still took social media by storm, but for all the wrong reasons.
The pompous presentation saw Musk enduring embarrassment on stage as Tesla’s chief designer smashed the supposedly “practically bulletproof” windows of the car with metal balls.
In addition to that, netizens ripped the car’s oddball design apart, flooding Twitter with a sea of Cybertruck-inspired memes.
Responding to the Musk's latest tweet, some suggested that it’s the power of the memes that boosted the sales.
Sometimes it pays to break some glass!
— Anner J. Bonilla????????????️???????? (@annerajb) November 23, 2019
“Memes are the best form of free advertisement,” a commenter wrote.
“Haha v true,” Musk agreed, causing many to wonder if the toughness test that supposedly went awry was in fact a clever marketing ploy.
What the ? Hey @elonmusk, was this whole window breaking a planned PR kind of stunt, so that in some way people kept talking about your truck without you even advertising it????????? pic.twitter.com/f5Fy1PvrCX
Many initially thought that the metal-ball stunt was spontaneous. However, Musk later released a video showing a rehearsal of the test which he said was filmed “right before launch.”
Franz throws steel ball at Cybertruck window right before launch. Guess we have some improvements to make before production haha. pic.twitter.com/eB0o4tlPoz
While Musk’s presentation “fiasco” apparently didn't make his devout fans turn away from him, investors were less than impressed. Forbes reported Saturday Musk’s personal net worth plunged $768 million in a single day after the showcase, as Tesla’s share price went down six percent.
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