I love a good bootleg, and the cheaper and crappier and more half-assed the better. Given the choice between an officially-licensed Superman action figure or a Superb-Man Active Figure with real Warm-Vision, I’m going to be drawn to the crappy knockoff.
And that could be why this amazing, misshapen silvery mass drew me in like a moth to a flame, or maybe a crudely drawn flame on a chunk of drywall. Meet the Aitekx Robotruck, the first Tesla Cybertruck knockoff to be introduced to humanity, and, based on the looks of the thing, it’s an absolute pile.
Now I should be clear that I have not yet spoken to the Aitekx representative and gotten all the details about this vehicle; I’ll be doing that tomorrow, at the show, and I will tell you everything I find out; until then, we have these pictures to look at and Aitekx’ website, which features a lot of improbable photos and some really painfully obvious spelling errors:
I make plenty of spelling errors myself, but I think when I have only two words to deal with, I can usually figure it out. This is also fun, and even more baffling:
3-raw seats? 2-raw seats? Are these uncooked seats? Seat tartare? A typo is one thing, but this is repeated. How?
The truck itself, called the Robotruck 1T in truck version and the Robotruck 1V in SUV form (I can’t actually tell the difference in the two based on the website) and seems pretty clearly modeled after the Tesla Cybertruck, but with enough styling differences to, I suppose, keep everything nice and legal.
In person, the Robotruck appears to have been built with a level of focus and care and attention that can only be described as “chimp-grade.” It’s appalling, in an absolutely gleeful way. I mean, just look at this thing:
Wow. I know we’ve all enjoyed a good, wholesome chuckle at the suspect build quality of the pre-production Cybertruck but this is an entirely different level of shittiness. If the Cybertruck’s build quality is somewhat shoddy, with uneven panel gaps, then the Robotruck is deity-level shoddy, with panel gaps that aren’t just large, but also incredibly uneven and wavy, and appears to have been put together with the sort of precision normally associated with a gravel driveway.
Look at how that door doesn’t exactly close! Absolutely no panel here actually fits; look at those strange metal slats that make up the sloping rear of the thing – they look like metal 2x4s haphazardly nailed to the sides.
What’s going on here? Are those rivet heads? Are there fingerprints in that paint?
Dear God, look at that. It’s like a guy with mittens was injected with several shots of Novacaine in the wrists, and handed a rubber mallet and told to “build the car.”
From what I could see, it looks like an absolute pile. Now, again, I haven’t spoken with Aitekx representatives about anything yet, and it’s possible there’s really good reasons for why the Robotruck looks like it was made by smacking parts together with a salami. It’s possible this all somehow makes sense, even if I can’t really see it.
Aitekx (that name seems to come from combining AI and tech and and X, because why the hell not, I suppose, letters are free) claims that the Robotruck will get “up to” 550 miles of range, and it’s worth noting that when you say something that can get “up to” 550 miles, that means that getting one mile is as valid as 200 miles, and the only thing that wouldn’t be possible with that claim is anything 551 miles or more. They also say it will go from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds, with a top speed of 165 mph.
Do you want to order one of these Wish.com Cybertrucks? The Cybertrucks of we have Cybertruck at home? If so, you can plop down $100 for a reservation, and guarantee that you’ll be in line to get ahold of one of these Robotrucks, which will likely be ready for delivery on the 14th of Never, in the year two thousand and are-you-fucking-kidding-me. Or it’ll be next year! Who knows, the Tesla Cybertruck has been promised since 2019, after all.
Do you feel good about sending money to a company whose address appears to be a PO Box, at least according to their trademark registration? Do you feel good about sending money to a company whose X account looks like this?
Unusual activity. I wonder if that includes the unusual activity of building a Cybertruck knockoff out of crap and dreams?
The Robotruck does seem to offer some advantages over the Cybertruck, including a third row of seats and what looks like a folding mid-gate:
I mean, in those renders, that looks pretty good! Unfortunately, reality is a big old jerk.
There does seem to be some sort of electric drivetrain under there, so that much seems true. Everything else I’m really skeptical about, but I’ll try and find out what I can. I’ll also ask them what it means when they say the Robotruck is a “fun midsize EV pickup with robotics and AI capability,” because I have no idea at all what the hell that means. Is it some euphemism for a semi-automated system?
This thing is absurd, but I adore the chutzpah it takes to blatantly knock off one of the most talked-about designs in recent memory, all while building it with a level of attention that suggests everyone involved was half-watching some YouTube videos or in the throes of a full-on ether high.
This thing is fascinating. The difference between the dreams of the builders, as expressed through these many renders, and the brutal reality of the half-ass-seeming physical truck itself, parked there smack dab in the middle of the LA Auto Show, is sobering.
I’ll check it out up close and get all the details tomorrow, but based on what I’ve seen and read so far, this goofy bootleg Cybertruck isn’t giving me a lot of confidence.
I’m thrilled it’s here, though. Best car of show, hands down.
Is there some irony to a knock-off with obvious quality issues that is knocking off a truck that is known for obvious quality issues? (at least all the ones anyone has ever seen in public)
I think this is what the kids call “Meta.” Which seems like a missed opportunity. The MetaTruck! Think how that would get under Elon’s skin.
This was the hardest I’ve laughed in a while. This article represents what keeps me coming back to this site
This free publicity can only help to send pre-production sales to an unprecedented level. So high it may sink the company…..
also proves that stupid ideas are highly contagious.
Kinda reminds me of the Dale car, for those of us old enough to appreciate weirdo pseudo automotive start ups.
I could very much see the anti-Musk crowds wanting to buy one b/c “I’ll show him how much I hate him by buying from his competition!” “Uh, but I don’t know if it’s really his…” “Shut up! Take my money AITEKX!”
I mean, it’s better-looking than the Cybertruck, but that’s like saying that chocolate mousse tastes better than oily dirt topped with sawdust.
Well now you’re making me nostalgic for my college wrenching experiences…
Ahhh… the sawdust… the busted knuckles.. my one good adjustable wrench…
How?
Less angular
I mean, it also looks like ass, but the prerendered side profile shot definitely looks better lol
I don’t think this analogy works the way you intended. Chocolate mousse is delicious, so by extension this mess would have to look great. A better analogy would be saying oily dirt topped with sawdust tastes better than the two day old vomit outside the local frat house. 😉
Don’t do chocolate mousse dirty like that.
Superb-Man, who can only be harmed by Cryptolite from his archenemy Rex Gunther.
Craptolite.
Cryolite?
Coprolite.
Cypriots…..Super-Man must never venture to the small Mediterranean island.
I doubt there’s any mystery as to why the Aitekx Robotruck’s X account was suspended: the Master does not appreciate upstaging. However, when you parade your Cybertruck in public for nearly five years, but don’t deliver the goods, knock-offs are inevitable.
If the Robotruck turns out to be a middle school project, Jason is going to feel so bad.
3-raw seats? 2-raw seats? It’s a robot truck, don’t disrespect freeway orgies.
Dear God, look at that. It’s like a guy with mittens was injected with several shots of Novacaine in the wrists, and handed a rubber mallet and told to “build the car.”
Perfection in two sentences.
Except it’s spelled Novocaine with an o. Everything has spell check or autocorrect these days. I don’t understand the spelling errors on this site, which is otherwise perfect.
Aitekx is kind of like Countach: the vocalization inspired by the sight of the vehicle. Except Aitekx is more of an involuntary gagging sound.
Gah! The “real” one doesn’t even look like the renders! Check the roof line. It, like the panel gaps are way off in all directions.
How would you like to be one of those guys in the bed, or sitting veside the rruck in that one photo?
Guy 1: At least we’re getting paid for this.
Guy 2: I hope…
Guy 3: I’m just glad Autopian has a wheelbarrow full of shrimp so we can get lunch.
I wonder if the reps will be able to discuss their “vehicle” with a straight face, or if they’ll go home at the end of the day questioning their employment decisions.
This is the loudest I have laughed all week. Even though I watched an episode of Yes Minister last night.
Pretty sure this is a movie prop. Anyone see Vin Diesel walking around?
No, but there’s a guy named Van Unleaded manning the booth.
This appears to be a Ram Mega Cab underneath? I’ve seen them less tastefully modified.
If this is only half as good as the CyberTruck that justifies a $365 billion market cap for Aitekx.
Ram Mega Cab is exactly what I was thinking. Then they just screwed metal sheets on top?!?
So, in other words, it may well not even have that fancy electric drivetrain under all that ill-formed HVAC duct sheet metal and self tappers?
It definitely has an EV drivetrain underneath. The show floor was closing so we didn’t have enough time to really look it over, but it has an exposed rear motor and what appears to be a sizable battery pack. Well, the shield for a battery, anyway… Didn’t see an exhaust pipe anywhere, so it looks the part of an EV.
The interior has an AEM instrument cluster screen, the steering wheel of a Chevy Express, and some cheap fake leather seats out of a luxury shuttle bus.
Oh, and it’s smaller in real life than it looks in pictures.
If you look closely, you’ll notice the platform underneath is a way shorter wheelbase than the body. I think a Ram Mega Cab would be too big. My initial guess was an imported Chinese truck with some sheet metal riveted to it. This is bolstered by the fact that you can buy Chinese clones of the Chevy Express steering wheel…hmmm…
Maybe a Great Wall-something under there?
Definitely some primordial Isuzu Pickup truck genes under there; 80 percent of Chinese pickups and off-roaders used to share that basis.
2013-ish Tacoma Double Cab.
I figured it out by looking at interior pics elsewhere, it’s a 2013-ish Toyota Tacoma Double Cab under there.
I kinda want to piss away $100 and make a reservation just to see what happens. Who knows, they might pull it off and I would totally drive this thing around just like it is. Like a giant foam finger to Tesla. I love bad knock-offs, it’s like dating an inflatable with no orifices.
Buy it and retrofit with an internal combustion engine. No wait – a steam engine
You might get delivery around the same time, too. Mainly because Aiteckx clearly have pretty low standards.
That side shot comparison…. sorry Cybertruck, you lose. Robotruck, with some actual shape, wins in design. But, loses (and how is this even possible) with build quality.
I kinda hate to do this to you, Jason, but if you’re gonna hit them for misspellings on their site, even though you acknowledge your own shortcomings in that regard…
“diety-level shoddy”
I think you mean “deity-level shoddy”
I mean, most people have pretty shoddy diets, but still.
I’m putting on my asbestos underwear in anticipation of the roasting I’m gonna get over the inevitable mistakes I’ve made in this post.
Novocaine, too.
I’m a car builder
(insert Ralph_with_finger_in_nose.gif)
Ralph
It’s a fifty footer, maybe even farther in the light. I don’t dislike it any more than the Tesla, both designed in middle school study hall.
How about looks good…..from Utah
Thank you! I have the same issue with “there are any number of reasons”. Yeah, like zero. Zero is a number.
And “one of the only ones that do this”. One of the only HOW MANY!?!?!?!????? Give me quantities, not some weak allusion to a small number! “Ones” is not a number!
I have a little trouble with idioms, maybe.
A favorite of mine is when apartments and real estate listings describe proximity like “minutes from downtown!!” 5 minutes, or 50?
I like when companies say “over x amount”, like “over 60 distribution centers to serve our customers” – how many? 61, 62, 273? It just makes it seem like they don’t even know the actual number themselves and were too lazy to count
Many an old car ad touting “over 50 standard features!” and then you look and the features are like…glovebox.
Think I’ve also seen that ‘count’ with x number of standard safety features from at least a couple brands too.
I love the non-round numbers you see sometimes. “Our law firm has over 13 years of experience litigating blahblah”
So, 14 years. Just say it.
Maybe they want to be able to use that commercial for 5 years, ‘till they can use the next round number.
Except for downtown, everything is minutes from downtown.
“You could save up to 75% during this sale!” *Everything is marked down by 0-15%*
Or, worse yet, “Save up to 50% or more,” which tells you nothing, since every number is less than, equal to, or more than 50.
Could be worse. They could have added “or more”.
“Fifteen minutes could save you up to fifteen percent or more on your car insurance!”
Same as the “99 cents and up” stores. Same quality, too.
At Aitekx, Poor build quality is feature, not flaw.
Because panel overlap makes bulletproof.
And measure us paint bubbles in microns.
We offer you 3 raw fascism too?
Made in Kazakhstan pride of country car.
You get the ocean sand hill!
Give them credit. They at least made a prototype that has an “AEM” digital instrument display (interior shot from another site). Who knows how legitimate it is, but they at least have good taste in dashboard accouterments.
Wow. Once saw an 80s Subaru wagon that had been ‘converted’ into a ute with a piece of plywood inset with a plastic widow behind the front seats. Presumably, a tree had fallen on it or something, so they just cut the rear greenhouse off. Anyway, that was better executed than this.
I filed that under, ‘necessity; decent execution’
This goes under, ‘Scam; Really? You took it to a car show??Where people can actually see it?’
I used to run a landscape supply yard, saw many vehicles that has been modified for truck use roll in. The other common thing was a trailer made out of a truck bed (bonus points to Peter whose ram towed a ram and the trailer always colour matched his new to him truck) and old tent trailer with the tent removed for cargo duty.
I became car aware in the 70s, and saw some interesting stuff back then. A lot of trailers made from the back half of pickups. A decade back I used to see utility trailers made from old Jetski trailers. Homemade stuff is way thinner on the ground around here now
I have an old jet skit trailer converted to a plywood flatbed for ranch duty. Can confirm that it sucks.
One time in the 6th grade I was being driven home, and what else drives by but an early 00’s Maxima with the entire back half cut off, buffed out, and turned into a truck. Maybe it’s a trend. I couldn’t tell you.
Well, what else are you gonna do when the meth lab in your trunk blows up?
There is (or was, I should look to see if it’s still around) a 2nd gen Prius running around near me that had been made into a ute. Removed the back doors and blended the panels, added some rear quarter windows behind the front like a regular cab F-150, even trimmed of the top section of the taillights which seems like it might have been the most involved part of the conversion. I spotted it twice in a short period ~3 years ago, second time with a large mattress balanced on the top sides of the “bed.”
There’s one similar to that around here! Only they grafted on the bed of a Subaru Baja instead. It’s owned by a shop that only works on Priuses, they had at least 30, probably closer to 50, Priuses parked outside (most needing repair). The owner said they use the Prius ute all the time, apparently it’s still pretty efficient too.
Fark me, that looks so very Chinese. Looking forward to the follow-up article.
I’m getting pretty strong Eastern European vibes myself
Like the guys who would drop off young people to try and sell knock-off perfumes & colognes at truck stops
Oh yeah, I’m so used to seeing craptacular Chinese knock-offs that I forgot about Eastern European knock-offs, and with the panel gaps, badly fitting panels etc, now I’m getting strong Eastern European vibes. Good call!
Horrifically awful “build quality” and vaporous essence aside, I still think it looks better than the Cybertruck. I can’t think or imagine anything worse than the Cybertruck, not even a SsangYong Rodius.
Rodius? That’s mean.
This is the hill I have chosen.
Many years ago a friend and I had a side hustle of making carbon fibre car parts, mostly body panels.
Normally we had a plan, made tooling, made some parts, then sold them. But I really wanted a carbon engine cover on my mk2 MR2 for a show, and timing was a bit tight. The first parts came out of the moulds the day before, and needed the inner and outer panels bonding together over night.
So in the morning I fitted the engine cover and it looked OK. Like the one I took off but made of carbon and much lighter.
I then drove it to the show, 120 miles with freshly laid up polyester resin sat on top of a hot engine.
The engine cover on an MR2 is held on by two hinges and a catch, and by the time I got to the show it only fitted in those three places, you could fit your hand in the panel gaps. I was mortified and parked at the back where I hoped no one would see.
It’s the worst thing I’ve ever made, and the shame was so great that I never made another one.
It still fitted better than that rear door on the Airtoss Rubbishtruck, and it also had a range of up to 550 miles.