When the Tesla Cybertruck bowed on stage for the first time in November 2019, opinions were – and still are to this day – split in half: you either love its edgy design or hate its resemblance to a car drawn by a six-year-old with a pen and ruler.
With this being said, the truck’s appearance wasn’t actually drawn up by a child, but it went through the usual automotive design process, as revealed in a photo that was shared online by Walter Isaacson, the author of Elon Musk’s biography, earlier this year.
In it, there were dozens of sketches that could have become the Cybertruck as we know it today, as well as several images that served as inspiration for the aforementioned proposals, including Robocop, stills from the Cyberpunk 2077 video game, fighter jets, tanks, and – you guessed it – the DeLorean.
And now we get the chance to see a release candidate (RC) unit of the upcoming boxy electric pickup next to the original futuristic shiny metal-wearing four-wheeler courtesy of Reddit user u/BladeBronson who posted some images of the encounter on the r/cybertruck subreddit, as well as a short YouTube video (embedded above).
As with the Cybertruck, the DeLorean’s outer shell is made from unpainted stainless steel panels, giving it a unique look that – together with its gullwing doors – made it a great candidate for the Back to the Future film series that made the American-owned, Italian-designed, French-engined, Ireland-built two-door become a culture icon.
With this being said, the similarities between the two vehicles stop here, as the troubled DeLorean, which was built in roughly 9,000 units during its two-year stint in the 1980s, was powered by a 2.9-liter V6 gasoline engine jointly developed by Peugeot, Renault, and Volvo that made a measly 130 horsepower.
The Tesla Cybertruck, on the other hand, is all-electric and, although we don’t know the final specs yet, it’s expected to come with either a dual-motor or a tri-motor layout. Air suspension, rear-wheel steering, and interior ambient lighting are also on the table, but we’ll know definitive details once the long-delayed EV finally starts getting into the hands of the estimated two million reservation holders.