In a reply to a tweet by Whole Mars Catalog speculating about the sudden disappearance of the Cybertruck from Tesla website, Elon Musk has confirmed that major changes were made to the pickup’s powertrain and chassis.
When the single-motor variant of the Cybertruck dropped out of the listing, some speculated this was because the company decided to ship the truck with a choice between two, three and four motors instead. This has now been officially confirmed as true. Furthermore, the four-motor one will be the first to reach the market with ‘ultra-rapid’ per-wheel torque vectoring, followed later by its less expensive cousins.
Musk shared no further details regarding the motors themselves, but answered positively when asked whether the Cybertruck would be capable of making a standing turn (a so-called ‘tank turn’). He confirmed that four-wheel steering was on the list, as was a special drive mode for moving sideways on difficult terrain (‘Crab Mode’ in GM terms).
A somewhat redesigned Cybertruck prototype cropped up in a spy video a few months ago. It had steerable rear wheels, regular mirrors instead of cameras, and normal window washers. All in all, it looked like Tesla was testing a late pre-production sample. The production itself remains scheduled for the second half of 2022 so far.