I’ve made a tradition out of asking you fine readers of Jalopnik for your automotive predictions for the upcoming year, and as we enter 2024, it’s time to ask it again. You’re a reader of culture and taste. What do you think is going to happen in the car world in 2024?
At this point, my repeated predictions that this will finally be the year of Elon Musk’s downfall have all proved fruitless. The guy just has a massive cult of personality around him that is impenetrable, because no one wants to hear logic or reason. That’s fine.
But I did start to notice a trend in 2023: Even if you can’t critique Musk, some of his most devout followers have begun to critique his products.
I’m predicting that the Cybertruck will be the breaking point for the Tesla/Musk fandom. Anyone with sense has taken one look at this boxy, stainless steel monstrosity and thought, “This is going to be a nightmare” — but there are still so many people who insist that it’s going to be the ideal vehicle to do literally everything.
That’s all going to change when people start taking delivery of these machines and have to, y’know, actually live with them. What’s going to happen when it rains, or when you have a minor fender bender? What will it be like trying to park a vehicle with such massive blind spots? Will it be comfortable? Will it be able to go off-roading or tow some equipment? Will you be able to easily access any of the bespoke parts for repairs?
The answer to all of those questions, I think, will not be good, and I think it’ll force the beginning of a reckoning with the ideas and products that Musk jets out into the universe. It’s not going to end Tesla or Elon Musk, because at this point, I think we’re kind of beyond that ever happening in a timely fashion. But I do think it’ll get some of Elon’s biggest supporters asking hard questions.