Ford said this challenge was meant tongue-in-cheek.
If Elon Musk was looking to pick a fight during the introduction of the new Cybertruck by taking some verbal swipes at Ford and showing a Cybertruck beating a Ford F-150 in a tug-of-war, pulling it up hill even, it’s on!
Well … kinda, maybe.
During the presentation of Cybertruck, Tesla showed a video of the electric truck easily pulling an F-150 up a hill as the Ford’s wheels spun in opposition. Now, people with some sharp eyes and a bit of knowledge were quick to point out this was not an equitable contest.
(Tesla’s Cybertruck Will Face Off With an Array of All-Electric Pickups)
In fact, one Ford employee, Sundeep Madra, head of Ford X, offered to perform its own tug-of-war with the new EV truck, all the company had to do was send Ford a Cybertruck. “hey @elonmusk send us a cybertruck and we will do the apples to apples test for you,” he texted.
Never one to back down from a challenge – this is the man who challenged the Securities and Exchange Commission – Musk’s response was short and sweet, “Bring it on!”
However, the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker was quick to put a stop to potential competition, a senior Ford spokesperson told Motor1.com that Madra’s tweet was “tongue-in-cheek” and meant to point out the absurdity of the comparison video.
(Musk reveals Tesla’s electric pickup — Cybertruck)
In addition to showing it at the debut, Musk shared it on Twitter during the weekend. A quick look at the video suggests that the Cybertruck is powered by either it the dual motor, all-wheel-drive powertrain or the even the tri-motor set up blasts 0 to 60 in just 2.9 seconds.
On the other hand, the F-150 is an STX, likely “boasting” a 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6, which puts out just 325 hp. It certainly doesn’t sprint to 60 mph in under 3 seconds … or even 6 second for that matter. On top of that, given that only the rear wheels are spinning, it’s not four-wheel drive, like the Cybertruck and on top of all that, Musk’s newest creation is significantly heavier than the F-150 adding to its list of advantages.
So if we’re looking for an apples-to-apples comparison, what’s needed? We did get on suggestion from Navigant Research Senior Analyst Samuel Abuelsamid, who tweeted, “@sundeep if you do apples to apples, does that mean the test will be with the electric F-150 that pulled the 1M pound train?”
(Ford Electric Prototype Truck Hauls 1M Pounds)
While that would likely be the best competition of all, right now, we’re all just going to have to wait patiently.