Image: Billy via X
Tesla Cybertruck has captured the electric vehicle and automotive industry fans by surprise. Since its first customer deliveries in November, it’s been showcased in showrooms and automotive industry shows in North America.
Last month, Tesla took the Cybertruck outside of the US to Asia for the first time, with the first few trucks landing in China. Now it has landed in the land of the rising sun, Japan – significantly for Australia because it is the world’s biggest right hand drive market.
EV enthusiast and reader of The Driven, Billy, has captured the truck in Japan which is being showcased to locals for the first time.
The Cybertruck is on display at teamLab Planets which is an arts and technology facility located in 6-chome, Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo.
The photos were taken show the Cybertruck at the entrance of the venue with hundreds of visitors getting to see it in the first few days of its arrival in Japan.
Some locals were caught by surprise, with one fan sharing the experience on X: “The Cybertruck was so amazing that I couldn’t even make a sound. I just kept taking pictures. I’ll buy it someday! Instead, you should move to America! I changed my mind…(That’s how big it is). I can’t find any words other than amazing, crazy, crazy…”
The arrival of the Cybertruck in the country comes only weeks after Elon Musk highlighted that awareness of the Tesla brand was quite low in Japan.
Answering an investor question on the brand’s advertising and marketing, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said: “Yeah. I mean, we also have geographies where our market share is remarkably low, like Japan, for example.
“Now, we obviously need to make sure that we have superchargers in the right locations and the service centers are there, and the product works well in Japan. Japan is the third-largest car market in the world of any country.”
Showcasing the Cybertruck amounts to promotional advertising and marketing for Tesla. By bringing its halo vehicle to markets like Japan, the Cybertruck will likely catch the imagination of thousands of people to consider the brand as a technological leader in EVs.
This is likely to create further awareness of Tesla in Japan, helping the brand sell more of its main-stream Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.
We look forward to seeing this roadshow continue beyond the markets the Cybertruck is being showcased, including here in Australia where many still believe that EVs can’t tow and electric utes don’t exist. This will hopefully build more confidence in drivers to make the switch to EVs that are cleaner for the road.
Riz 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.
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