Ford Exec Playfully Challenges Tesla Cybertruck to 'Apples to Apples' Pickup Tug-of-War
Ford Vice President Sunny Madra wanted a rematch with Elon Musk’s new Cybertruck.
The Ford executive took issue with Tesla’s ad campaign that depicted a Cybertruck pulling an F-150.
Musk revealed his new Tesla Cybertruck at the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, this past Thursday. A video was shown of the Cybertruck winning a match of tug-of-war against a Ford F-150.
Cybertruck pulls F-150 uphill pic.twitter.com/OfaqUkrDI3
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2019
However, car-related news companies such as The Drive and motor1.com have pointed out that the match-up wasn’t fair.
Madra, the head of Ford’s mobility venture Ford X, tweeted at Musk on Monday, asking him to send over a Cybertruck to do an ‘apples to apples’ game of tug-of-war with a more evenly matched Ford truck.
hey @elonmusk send us a cybertruck and we will do the apples to apples test for you ???https://t.co/H3v6dCZeV5
— sunny madra (@sundeep) November 25, 2019
Musk appeared to accept the challenge and replied to Madra’s tweet later on Monday afternoon: “Bring it on.”
Bring it on https://t.co/pCnln1NdRO
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2019
However, a Ford spokeswoman said that Madra was not being serious. She told Fox News that “Sunny’s tweet was tongue in cheek to point out the absurdity of Tesla’s video, nothing more.”
“With America’s best-selling truck for 42 years, we’ve always focused on serving our truck customers regardless of what others say or do. We look forward to our all-new F-150 hybrid coming next year and all-electric F-150 in a few years,” she said.
Even though Ford has backed down from the challenge, Musk has agreed to do a webcast of the Cybertruck and Ford F-150 going at it again– this time, both vehicles will be loaded to the max to provide the most torque, per the recommendation of astrophysicist Niel deGrasse Tyson on Twitter.
But the stand-off may still not be even.
The Drive explains that the Ford in Musk’s video is “equipped with the STX package, which upgrades the engine to the 2.7-liter EcoBoost V-6 that pumps out 325 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque.”
However, this specific model only has rear-wheel drive, which puts it at a severe disadvantage especially because the downhill position of the Ford minimizes the amount of traction that the back tires can get.
The exact specifications of the Cybertruck in the video have not been released, but The Drive points out that Tesla vehicle has more weight and power because of the electric motor; it has bigger tires to enable more road contact than the F-150 does and it may be equipped with all-wheel drive. In addition, the Cybertruck has the uphill advantage.
In the link that Madra attached to his tweet, motor1.com mentions that “the Cybertruck appears to be the one taking the slack and building forward momentum before the F-150 starts doing anything. Add to that the lack of an AWD system on the F-150 and a locking rear differential, plus the instant torque of the Cybertruck due to its all-electric powertrain.”
A more evenly matched truck would be the prototype of the electric Ford F-150, which towed a train that weighed one million pounds.
The train was comprised of 10 double-decker train cars, holding forty-two 2019 F-150s. The electric prototype pulled it 1,000 feet.
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