NZ involvement might indicate much-delayed project is finally nearing sign-off.

ULTIMATE destination for the Tesla Cybertruck, an example of which has come to New Zealand probably to wrap up fine-tuning of electronic assists, is outside a flash hotel.

That’s the thought from Ford chief executive Jim Farley, who has dissed the much-anticipated, much-delayed and highly-distinctive model as “a cool high-end product parked in front of a hotel” rather than “a truck for real people.”

This and other comment arrives from an interview this week in which the Blue Oval’s boss was asked how much of a thorn Cybertruck might one day be.

Ford’s big gun reckons it’s nothing to worry about. According to a report run today by the FordAuthority website, he doesn’t think the Tesla will be a terribly compelling product for those who need a truck for work.

Says FordAuthority: “Farley discounted the idea that the Tesla Cybertruck would eat into Ford’s market share in the pickup segment.

It quotes Farley as saying: “The reality is, America loves an underdog – and we are the market leader for EV trucks and vans, and we know those customers better than anyone.

“… if he (Musk) wants to design a Cybertruck for Silicon Valley people, fine.”

Farley later added “it’s like a cool high-end product parked in front of a hotel. But I don’t make trucks like that. I make trucks for real people who do real work, and that’s a different kind of truck.”

This isn’t the first time Farley has offered his thoughts on Tesla and its products. As Ford Authority previously reported, he doesn’t think Tesla updates its products fast enough.

Back in NZ, the example that was flown in to Auckland last week - and videoed by a Tesla fanboy while being off-loaded - is almost certainly now at the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds, colloquially known as the ‘Snow Farm’, an alpine hideaway between Queenstown and Wanaka, atop the Pisa Range, accessed by the road for the defunct ‘Race to the Sky’ that tragically took Possum Bourne’s life).

It’s a world-renowned private vehicle testing facility, replicating those in the Arctic and just as heavily used by automotive and tyre manufacturers, also away from prying eyes.

SHPG will be busy from now until September, and often it’s wrap-up work from brands running south when they need a sub-zero spot to complete the validation testing that didn’t fully sort at the top of the world.

It’s widely presumed that’s what Tesla will be doing. Hope is that this could very well be the final round of winter testing before the vehicle finally enters initial production, years after it was supposed to.

The video has, unsurprisingly, also raised speculation about whether the model already almost five years behind schedule will sell here.

That’s a big call. Certain international validations require sale outside of North America - for our market, it’d need to meet not only ANCAP/European NCAP safety rigours that are the priority NZ legislative regimes but also all sorts of design requirements to do with all manner of aspects - including headlight design - that, of the face of it (see what I did there?) would be hard without a comprehensive reshape. Elon Musk is on the record saying he can’t be bothered.

For another? Well, Tesla has just regressed its right hand drive market interest, by stopping sale of Model X and Model S in that form. That’s not a risk - just 25 percent of the world drives on the left side - but it does suggest it might be thinking Cybertruck, on grounds it could conceivably attract just as select an audience, might not be worth developing in right hook.

Who is going to buy it? Teslarati will of course claim this is the ultimate ute/pick-up; capable of going everywhere and replicating with electric drive every role performed by, in this market, diesel-powered tray decks.

BTW, Tesla has been to the SHPG previously. The place featured in a video that it posted on YouTube last December. The video featured the company’s team in New Zealand, who were then working the Model Y’s Track Mode feature. The Model S and Model X were also in the video.