The Beijing Auto Show is currently happening. I think I mentioned I was supposed to go but there was some holdup with getting a Chinese visa; in fact, I still don’t have my passport back! Still, somehow, despite my not being there, the various Chinese automotive companies seem to have decided what the hell, let’s have the Beijing Motor Show anyway, and I salute them for that. One interesting thing that has been noted at the show is a concept car from Dong Feng that does seem to be pretty dramatically and obviously inspired by the Tesla Cybertruck. We’ve definitely covered strange Cybertruckian knockoffs before, but this one seems significantly better than the one we saw before. I kind of like this one, in many ways better than the Cybertruck, I think?
So far, most of the attention here has come from some tweets about the concept vehicle, which, according to Dong Feng’s website, is simply called 2024 Concept Pickup Truck, though Dong Feng seems to have at least one picture of it on their site, which I’m showing you up top there.
Let’s look at it again, this time in context, and showing the integrated tent it has on the rear:
It’s pretty clearly Cybertruck-inspired in general shape and proportion, and overall tone and feel. But it’s also much more rounded off at the edges, lacking the Cybertruck’s sharp corners, and has more surface detailing and complexity, because it seems to have body panels made of stamped steel or aluminum instead of the Tesla’s flat stainless ones.
There seem to be little LEDs inset in the wheel arches “keystone” location, likely side marker lamps, which are cool, and it has cameras instead of mirrors, which I think is legal in China but not America. I can’t see how they tackled the windshield wiper solution here.
The truck bed sides have more of a notchback design, flowing into the cab with a sail-like shape instead of one large unbroken angle, like the Cybertruck. This feels like a better solution if you ever have to load anything into the bed from the sides, something that definitely happens when using a pickup truck.
There’s a full-width light bar in front, but that seems to be hiding a surprise that you can see in the tweeted pictures, and the main lighting seems to be down in the lower corners of the front end. The roof seems to have a light bar that could also be either a cargo carrier or pop-up roof tent or lidar unit or something. It’s not clear what exactly that upper pod is for up there, but I suspect it was included for a reason.
The tweets at least give a view of the rear, too:
Dong feng Cybertruck with no sharp edges 🤢🤮 pic.twitter.com/csNiqCoEIJ
— T ⚡️ (@TeslaSg) April 28, 2024
Also in these tweets you can see the secret of the light bar; look:
They’re displays! They look like fairly high-resolution monochrome displays, white for the front, red for the rear, where they form a full-width heckblende-style taillight unit. They even seem to be running a little animation on them, with the truck and some sound-wave-like hills, I bet set to music. Also, it’s interesting to note that vertical split there, suggesting the rear opens like a pair of doors instead of a traditional tailgate. Perhaps it does both?
The tent setup is interesting, where the tonneau cover seems to work like a massive hatch, and when lifted, the tent forms sides and it looks like an extended roof section folds out. I suspect the roof can be folded down to enclose the tent as the rear wall as well? It’s a pretty simple, straightforward design, however it works, though I wonder if it also means this tonneau does not slide out of the way like on a Tesla or Rivian.
Our Chinese car expert Tycho found more pics of the concept on Weibo, along with a bit more information, including that it uses Dongfeng’s existing skateboard EV platform and makes 1,305 horsepower, so, holy crap.
There’s a smallish frunk on the concept, which this source suggests is called E-Truck, and the rear doors open suicide-style:
The interior seems to be a bit less austere than Tesla’s truck, and really goes nuts with the huge, wraparound screens:
Overall, while it is definitely derivative, I don’t think it’s a bad take on the Cybertruck design. It does make me wonder if we’re about to enter an era where there will be a whole sub-market of Cybertruck-style knockoff-design pickup trucks, kind of like how there were iMac knockoffs in the late 1990s/early 2000s. You remember those, right?
I think Dong Feng is absolutely capable of coming up with original designs and concepts; after all, at the same show the brand reveal the M-Hunter, an electric (with optional ICE range extender) off-roader, something I’ve yet to see any manufacturer seriously plan too mass-produce, which Dong Feng is. Look at this beast:
I do, however, think the Cybertruck has garnered too much attention for companies to completely ignore, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more near-Cybertrucks ending up on the market – maybe more likely the Chinese market than American – soon. And I bet some will have real improvements to the Cybertruck design. It’ll be exciting to see!
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Still looks goofy, but a lot more sensible than the Cybertruck. It looks like what the idea of the Cybertruck would be if it wasn’t, you know, completely dumb. It feels like it was designed by an actual engineer that got the CT described over the phone, and just discounted most of the madness as errors in translation.
Maybe it is Cybertruck’s brother, that stopped with the drinking and the drugs, got an office job, settled down and had 2.4 kids, but still clings to the fashion choices of its past. You know the type, right? CT calls it once or twice a year asking about the kids, but what it really wants is bail money. Not that it was arrested on account of anything serious, it is always something dumb like flashing on public trails or picking fights with other trucks (and losing).
That was my though, a productionized and value engineered CyberTruck. I do not have a horse in this race.
It’s a Cybertruck after getting stuck in a sandstorm. Or maybe in a gently flowing creek.
This is a cross between a CT and a Pontiac Aztek.
It appears to have no brakes, so they had to chock the wheels. What are the chances that there is no engine either?
Seriously, if the Chinese want to progress with vehicles, copying the worst, ugliest vehicle in America is definitely not the place to start.
It’s still not great, but it is at least better looking than the Cybertruck. Which is also kind of sad
Pretty low polygonal bar to clear there.
Jason Torchinsky was once a darling of the Chinese government for his positive press of an Old Man Electric Car. Then, he wrote about taking a chainsaw to that car.
He will never enter China. Also, his passport has regrettably been “lost.”
From what I know about China, I would re-read everything I ever posted before considering going there.
I am so heated that they would do this to the American who single-handedly brought ChangLi international acclaim. What a snub.
Unrelated, but someone running a Tesla fanboy account doesn’t get to have an opinion on any other car. That’s just the facts.
Wouldn’t buy it, but it looks better than the original.
Should have called it, Long Duc Dong….
it’s like one of those generic futuristic cars from 80/90s movies
Okay, the Cybertruck has been out for a bit. Now this thing. F1 has been gaining in popularity. Mick Jagger is still alive. So when do we finally get a “Freejack” sequel?
“Decent looking” and “Cybertruck” do not go together in any way.
Already tired of the Cyberchunk aesthetic. Move on people, nothing to see here.
It looks like something the villain’s private security force would drive in a cyberpunk movie.
Count me in the better than CT camp. That frunk looks like a reasonably comfortable bench for headgating. I’d say the overall design looks like a mash-up of CT and Hummer EV (minus the t-tops, unfortunately).
Someone, however, should warn Dong Feng about the failure of the barn door tailgate on the Lincoln Blackwood. Hopefully they didn’t carpet the bed.
Unpopular opinion inbound:
Cybertruck wears it better.
I say this not as a Cybertruck fan at all (quite the opposite), but given a choice between the Cybertruck and this Dong Feng, I’d take the Cybertruck.
I agree that CT looks better, since I’d go so far as to say I like it’s aesthetic. But I’m sure that this knock off is a better car overall than the CT, just by virtue of not fucking it up as a car.
Still not stoked about the company’s owner though, the Chinese government isn’t as annoying, but it is way more dangerous than Elon Musk.
Are the doors on that off-road concept usable as max-trax ramps? That would be pretty clever, if so.
Dong Feng truck: When you copy your neighbors pop-quiz. But your neighbor didn’t study, got real high before hand, and is now standing on his desk hotting and hollering. And you’re just going with the flow. So, you get up on your desk and you’re doing your best impression. But your heart just really isn’t into the ridiculousness of it all.
Did you sit next to me in Chemistry class ?
Yeah, that was me. Really rough class for me. Sorry for all the commotion.
#cotd!
Clearly the knockoff is a far better looking truck. I wonder if Elon can respond and steal their designs and what they could do about a theft of their designs stolen from Tesla originally?
Once again how could China refuse entry to JT and Autopian after they brought world wide attention to the Changalli? Now do the other members join me I asking to ban China junk from the USA?
It looks like dong feng
It’s sooooo ugly, and yet so much better looking than the Crybertruck.
It doesn’t look like something a 5 year old scribbled in crayon so it’s already better looking in that regard.
Like the Cybertruck this seems to be a polarizing vehicle. Over on Xwitter responses are mixed about it looking better than CT and worse than CT. I think I like it about the same, maybe a little more because I could see myself actually driving this more than the CT but I’d love to see both in traffic.
I’m also getting a strong RoboCop vibe from the styling on this, maybe that’s why I like it.
I’d buy that for a dollar, but does it have a Blaupunkt stereo?
Maybe it’s just that side-view photo, but the skateboard looks CHONKY.
Hot take: It’s miles better looking than the Cybertruck.
Is it really better? Or just bad in different ways?
It is terrible in countless different ways, BUT still miles better.
We are getting closer to a true M577, which is what I really want to see.
Mathematically speaking, less bad = better
Sure but equally bad in different ways = also bad
This looks even worse than the Cyber truck. Which BTW I am now starting to see more frequently around here ( Bay Area ) and maybe the first few times I saw it I was sort of blown away but now? It just looks dumb. Like really really dumb. I’ve seen a few where the owners gave it a wrap. Yesterday I saw some dude who had covered his in a flat black wrap. It looked like a brick on wheels.
🙂
I wonder how the stainless steel will hold up under those wraps, I gotta imagine there’s some moisture trapping going on
The wrap hides the rust.
There’s an orange wrapped one around here, now THAT looks like a brick on wheels.