Bizzare & Odd

‘Looks weird… like, really weird’: Wall Street isn’t sold on Tesla’s new Cybertruck design. Here’s what 7 analysts think about the electric pickup.

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

Tesla unveiled its Cybertruck on Thursday in a live event where its design leader accidentally broke two of the car’s windows.
Many Wall Street analysts think the truck’s strange design could harm the car’s performance.
Credit Suisse said Tesla’s rivals Ford and General Motors could “breathe a sigh of relief.”
Others said it would be a niche offering, similar to the Hummer.
Here’s what seven analysts said about the Tesla Cybertruck.
Watch Tesla trade live on Markets Insider.

Wall Street analysts aren’t buying the futuristic design of Tesla’s new electric pickup truck, called the Cybertruck, announced in a live event on Thursday.

“Tesla’s Cybertruck looks weird… like, really weird,” Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein wrote in a Friday note. “Add a little bit of dirt, and you could even say it gives off a retro-future vibe a la Mad Max.”

The strange design, inspired in part by the movie “Blade Runner,” is likely to affect how people view the truck and if they ultimately decide to buy, analysts said.

“We do not see this vehicle in its current form being a success,” Jeffrey Osborne of Cowen wrote in a note on Friday, adding that he doesn’t see the Tesla brand or the Cybertruck design “resonating with existing pickup truck owners.”

That means that General Motors and Ford, Tesla’s main competitors in the pickup market, can “breathe a sigh of relief,” wrote Dan Levy of Credit Suisse.

To make matters worse, the live unveiling of the Cybertruck didn’t exactly go as planned. Tesla’s lead designer, Franz von Holzhausen, accidentally broke the truck’s “armor glass” windows with a metal ball during a demonstration.

That “was not a good start,” Emmanuel Rosner of Deutsche Bank wrote in a Friday note. Tesla shares fell as much as 7% the day after the event.

Still, the Cybertruck’s design wasn’t unanimously disliked by Wall Street. The design “will be a hit with the company’s fanatic EV installed base globally as Musk & Co. are clearly thinking way out of the box on this model design,” Dan Ives of Wedbush wrote in a Friday note.

But Ives went on to say that those outside the base might disagree.

“Investors will question if this is a mass market pickup going after Ford and GM with ~3 million pickup trucks sold annually in the US, or a more niche ‘wow factor’ model that will be more limited,” he wrote.

Here’s what else Wall Street analysts had to say about the Cybertruck:

1. Cowen: “Blade Runner inspired design appears to be the most controversial feature.”

Tesla

Rating: Underperform

Price target: $190

“Tesla’s Cybertruck reveal will likely disappoint current pickup truck owners and we see the vehicle remaining a niche and not a mainstream product,” Jeffrey Osborne of Cowen wrote in a note Friday.

He continued: “The Blade Runner inspired design appears to be the most controversial feature. The base price of $39,900 is likely never to be seen, just as the $35k Model 3 has failed to materialize.

“CEO, Elon Musk has been enthusiastic about his Blade Runner inspired design for months, but we were still surprised how futuristic he went with this one and believe it may shatter his dreams.”

2. Wedbush: The design “looks more like a stealth bomber than a pickup truck.”

AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu

Rating: Neutral

Price target: $270

The design “looks more like a stealth bomber than a pickup truck in our opinion,” Dan Ives of Wedbush wrote in a Friday note.

He continued: “From a demand perspective this will be a more niche market, as we believe hitting the 150k/175k unit threshold in its first full year of deliveries (likely 2022) is the line in the sand out of the gates and could be a tough bogey to hit.

“For comparison, the leader in the market Ford sells roughly 1 million F-150 pickups per year. In a nutshell, we believe this next generation Cybertruck model could help Tesla expand its market opportunity outside its core customer base over time, although gaining market share with stalwarts such as Ford and GM entrenched in this landscape will be a difficult task for Fremont.”

3. Deutsche Bank: “There are important unanswered questions.”

Reuters

Rating: Hold

Price target: $290

“We believe there are important unanswered questions to be able to assess potential buyer interest in the model, and whether this could attract commercial fleets or remain a consumer niche vehicle,” Emmanuel Rosner of Deutsche Bank wrote in a Friday note.

He continued: “First of all, is the exterior design too polarizing? Second, what are the real battery ranges under working conditions, with a payload or while towing? A greatly reduced range would require commercial customers to opt for the higher trims, which could be significantly more expensive than their equivalent traditional pickups.

“Third, will commercial buyers trust Tesla’s build quality? While the materials used appear robust, there could be questions about the truck’s durability when used under work conditions, especially in light of its seemingly unibody construction. And the shattering of the truck’s unbreakable glass windows during the live demonstration was not a good start.”

4. Canaccord Genuity: “Unique and futuristic design will resonate with consumers.”

Tesla

Rating: Buy

Price target: $375

“While styling will always be subjective, we believe the unique and futuristic design will resonate with consumers, leading to solid demand,” Jed Dorsheimer of Canaccord Genuity wrote in a Friday note.

He continued: “The starting price point of $39,900 for the 250-mile-range, single-motor RWD design option was also a strong point as this positions the Cybertruck competitively in the middle of the lucrative truck market, with production expected in ‘late 2021.’

“While the futuristic design may be polarizing, we are encouraged by the Cybertruck release and believe that along with the coming Model Y crossover SUV, Tesla will be able to address two key categories of the automotive market that it previously could not.”

5. Bernstein: “Cybertruck is likely to be a niche offering.”

Tesla

Rating: Market-perform

Price target: $325

The “really futuristic, like cyberpunk Blade Runner” design “is too bad, because its on-paper specs are insane,” Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein wrote in a Friday note.

He continued: “As promised, the pickup’s specs are Tesla-like; a range of 250-500+ miles; 0-60 time

“But looks do matter, and we think Cybertruck is likely to be a niche offering – with sales of perhaps 50K units a year or less. We think the best potential comp for the Cybertruck is Hummer, which sold 30-80K units annually during its lifetime.”

6. Credit Suisse: “It’s somewhat unclear to us who the core buyer will be.”

Tesla

Rating: Underperform

Price target: $200

“The Tesla truck should be considered a lifestyle product – the Jeep Wrangler/Gladiator and F-series Raptor franchises come to mind as lifestyle off-road products, as well as other future off-road vehicles (i.e. Ford Bronco, Hummer electric pickup),” Dan Levy of Credit Suisse wrote in a Friday note.

He continued: “Yet amid the radical design for Cybertruck, it’s somewhat unclear to us who the core buyer will be.

“For all that Tesla tried to show edges in the Cybertruck vs. incumbent products, our first take is that Cybertruck is not a threat to incumbent large pickup share.”

7. Morgan Stanley: “More fitting for a work site in a Martian colony.”

Tesla

Rating: Equal weight

Price target: $250

“While some investors may see the design as more fitting for a work site in a Martian colony, true art and design lovers may appreciate that Tesla has tried to bring something totally different to the market here on Earth,” Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley wrote in a Friday note.

He continued: “In this current iteration, we do not believe the Cybertruck poses a significant threat to the established pickup truck market.”

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Bizzare & Odd

The smallest man in the world died at the age of 27 from pneumonia

The little Nepalese took part in various television shows, traveled around the world, met with the highest people in the world and enjoyed the attention to his person.

Khagendra’s height was only 67 cm and weight 5.5 kg. From a very young age, this little man was of miniature growth, born with primordial dwarfism. When he was a child, he was already known in many countries as the smallest boy in the world, and then as the smallest teenager.

After the official title of the Guinness Book of Records, Khagendra became a living symbol of Nepal, attracting tourists to this poor mountainous country.

Because of his abnormal growth, Khagendra often suffered from many medical problems, ranging from asthma to problems with breathing and bone pain. Shortly before his death, his heart began to ache often, and then he also caught pneumonia and his body simply could not withstand such a load.

Despite all the above problems, Khagendra remained a cheerful and optimistic person to the end. He was completely dependent on his parents and moved with great difficulty, but he had normal mental development and was well aware of his condition and position.

Khagendra had a younger brother, who was born completely normal and then helped Khagendra cope with various domestic inconveniences.

“He was so small at birth that could fit in the palm of my hand and it was very difficult for us to bathe and care for him,” says Khagendra’s father Rup Bahadur.

Before the death of Khagendra, the official smallest man in the world was recognized as Junrey Balawing from the Philippines, 56 cm tall, but he cannot walk on his own.

Of those dwarfs who can walk, now the smallest is the Colombian Eduardo Nino Hernandez (pictured below), whose height is 70 cm.

Bizzare & Odd

A chicken in Brazil laid an egg with a text message

This happened in the municipality of Ceará, Brazil. According to reymisterios.com, a stunned farmer named Raimundo Aluceno came to the local newspaper and demanded that the jounalists send the best scientists to the poultry farm. The reason for this was one of his birds, which laid a somewhat abnormal egg.

Raimundo has long been engaged in his business and has seen everything. But for the chicken to lay an egg with some mysterious symbols – this is what he sees for the first time.

First, our hero shared the discovery with his neighbors, who, too, were stunned. Then at a meeting of the villagers, it was decided to send Raimundo to the scientists to explain this strange phenomenon.

Unfortunately, he did not reach the scientists, however, the TV channel Monólitos, broadcasting in Portuguese, became interested in the incident. The journalists went to the place and checked everything, after which they took a short interview from Raimundo.

The egg turned out to be real, not fake, and now no one knows how to interpret this event. The opinions of people are divided.

So, many people think that aliens are to blame for everything, since Brazil is a continuous anomalous zone. But why did aliens need this? Is this some kind of joke or message left to people?

On the other hand, many see the divine sign in everything. Moreover, since the symbols more closely resemble to numbers, not letters, believers see this as the date of prophecy about the Apocalypse.

The situation with this egg is funny on one hand, and not on the the other. Why it is not funny can be understood if we recall that many cultures of the world are engaged in coloring eggs – they draw some patterns, inscriptions and so on.

All this, of course, could be some kind of witchcraft, whose roots go back to times about which nothing is known. But, apparently, there was some reason for the ancient people to make inscriptions on chicken eggs.

Maybe the ancients really had some sacred birds through which some forces transmitted messages to people, painting something on the shell. Then the messages ceased and the people themselves began to draw some patterns, repeating a forgotten ritual.

If this assumption is correct, then probably these ancient and forgotten times are returning and now many birds in the world will be carrying some quotes and valuable advice, so we follow the development of events.

Bizzare & Odd

Strange multi-colored flashes in the night sky of Ohio still have not received a logical explanation

These strange multi-colored flashes in the night sky were shot last Sunday by an outdoor surveillance camera installed on a house in Bethel, Ohio.

The population of the town is only a little more than 2700 people and of course in such a small settlement there are no large stadiums, night clubs with spotlights and other institutions that could theoretically be involved in these bright flashes of light.

In addition to the camera, outbreaks were personally observed by the owners of the house on which this camera was installed. Tim Walker and his daughter Carolyn took up garbage collection late at night and literally froze in place when they saw colorful flashes that lit up the night sky.

The flashes lasted only a few seconds, and then stopped, but when the father and daughter went further along the road, the night sky again lit up with a bright flash. That is, if this happened intermittently, then this is clearly not a falling meteorite.

However, no one knows what it could still be , although news of these strange outbreaks soon appeared in many media. None of the logical versions could explain where these reddish-orange-pink-violet flashes came from.

According to Carolyn, at first she thought that something big had exploded there and felt very anxious. However, no loud sounds were heard.

And according to Tim Walker, what he saw reminded him of the explosions of shells that he saw while serving in the army. Except that here all this was completely soundless.

In the following days, reporters asked the local police and the Clermont County Emergency Department, to which the town belongs, but could not explain anything there. Also, nothing is said about whether it could be an accident on power lines or any substation.