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If there's one thing we know about South African-born Tesla CEO Elon Musk, it is that he has mastered the art of trolling, especially when it comes to inquisitive journalists and his company.
He is a mastermind at deflecting, so when it comes to divulging news about future products, one has to be as sharp as the tech pioneer and decrypt his "clues".
Tesla revealed its new Model Y a few of months back, but that was not the only product teased. News of a new electric pickup from the company has been churning the rumour mill for quite some time.
Blink, and you might just have missed the news at the reveal, amid Musk's plethora of daily tweets.
In a recent podcast, Ryan McCaffrey from IGN, host of Ride the Lightning - Tesla Motors' unofficial podcast - had an hour-long chat with Musk.
In the interview, Musk speaks about Tesla's new electric bakkie.
Image: Twitter/ Electrek.Co
McCaffrey points out that Musk had released a teaser image at the Model Y event earlier in March, about the Pickup Truck. The image, Musk said, was apparently the front-end of the bakkie.
Musk had mentioned on Twitter, after the new Model Y reveal, that the model would have titanium components, some "cool suspension stuff", and also mentioned the practical load bay.
The image, posted below, hardly reveals much at all, and if anything, appears to show more the rear of the model than its front. It was literally a glimpse, which confused those alert enough in the crowd who had seen it.
What followed was a hilarious thread of memes in Musk's tweet from his online followers.
"Blade-Runner" references were also made about the new bakkie and its design features.
"We don’t want it to be really expensive. I think it's got to start at less than $50 000 – it’s got to be like $49 000 (the equivalent of about R755 000) starting price max. Ideally less. It just can’t be unaffordable," Musk stated. "It’s got to be something that’s affordable."
"There will be versions of the truck that will be more expensive, but you’ve got to be able to get a really great truck for $49 000 or less."
"It's got to have incredible functionality, and look amazing. It won't look like a normal pickup, it will look pretty sci-fi. It won't be for everyone. Like if somebody just wants to have a truck that looks like trucks have looked like for the last 20 to 40 years, it’s probably isn’t for them.”
The image below is an artist impression of what the bakkie might look like, posted by Electrek.Co. The Tesla pickup is set to rival Ford's F150.
