Over the last two months, Tesla has been ramping up the testing of its upcoming steel-bodied Cybertruck. Some of the testing is being done in New Zealand, Ā a favoured winter testing ground.
Now it appears that the efforts around this testing have ramped up with sightings of up to five Cybertrucks at the test site. This is significantly more than previously seen on site as previously only two Cybertrucks were spotted, both with a unique camouflage wrap.
These sightings were thanks to pictures shared by a Kiwi Cybertruck enthusiast, CybertruckNZ, on Twitter/X.Ā
One of the shared pictures shows three steel-bodied Cybertrucks parked next to a shed with the Cybertruck to the far rightās tailgate marked as āCybr-uteā.
A CYBR-UTE anyone? The Tesla Team up at SHPG found a name for the CT that the locals will understand!š pic.twitter.com/rDNxPQTSKR
— CybertruckNZ (@CybertruckNZ) August 12, 2023
In other pictures, the camouflaged test units were also spotted, making up to count of at least five units on site. They all also appeared to have the triangular rear side mirrors which seem to be what is expected in the production version of the Cybertruck.
Fans of the Cybertruck were quite amused by the growth in the number of Cybertrucks. āTheyāve been sneaking them in,ā one said.
At least 5+ Cybertrucks at SHPG at the moment. Plus at least couple of Highlands as well. Oh, and all the other S3XY vehicles. pic.twitter.com/GPfzcxhk6m
— CybertruckNZ (@CybertruckNZ) August 12, 2023
To put the Cybertruck New Zealand sightings on a bit of a timeline, the first Tesla Cybertruck with a massive frunk opening was seen at the winter test site back in June. That unit was delivered to the site in the back of a covered trailer.
Speaking of the frunk, new photos were also shared with the frunk of a unit being opened which reveals some of the internals. Although it is unclear of what some of those internal components might be, it does show that the frunk does extend for a significant part of the Cybertruckās width.
The size of the Cybertruck makes some of the locally found vehicles parked closer to the camera look quite a bit smaller.
Cybertruck frunk open and āgutsā exposed at SHPG pic.twitter.com/xbZ0NLgdgQ
— CybertruckNZ (@CybertruckNZ) August 11, 2023
The Winter testing for Tesla vehicles happens at the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds (SHPG) in the South Island. Thatās timely as it is just before the truck is about to go into ramped production later this quarter.Ā
With the first customer delivery event for the Cybertruck estimated to be only weeks away, the large number of these vehicles undergoing winter testing is a clear indication that Tesla really wants this vehicle to operate in all terrains.
This would give a vote of confidence in the product to hundreds of thousands of reservation holders who would be looking to put it through its paces when it hits the road for them in the coming years.
RizĀ is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.