Forbes Staff To those who are disposed to hate Tesla already because of Musk’s politics, the recalls have become an ever expanding attack surface. But, ironically, most of the extreme vitriol comes from non-owners, who love taking pot shots at the Cybertruck but have no first-hand experience with the vehicle. “People hate Musk so I get it,” said Gerber but he added that, “But zero percent of kids hate it.” (I can second that. I saw kids swarm a Cybertruck at a Tesla Supercharger station a few weeks ago.) The latest: magnet mayhem (and get Musk) There’s a cottage industry of blogs that will jump on almost anything negative that’s trending on Tesla forums. And the Cybertruck is a favorite punching bag. Posts are often replete with the obligatory (and stale) ad hominem attacks on Musk. Tesla critics misplace their vitriol, projecting personal opinion of Musk onto Tesla products. A good example of this is anecdotal reports of magnets that can cause corrosion (accompanied by digs at Musk’s world views). This has triggered a new round of ridicule about rusty Cybertrucks with some posts going so far to show an obviously fake photo of a Cybertruck covered in rust (which is actually a wrap). Design, as always, polarizing Always lurking in the background of the love/hate polarity is the Cybertruck design. “The vehicle is in at least one way the opposite of the Toyota Camry,” said Tom Libby, an analyst at S&P Global Mobility. “While the Camry has been described as bland and having a style no one would really dislike...[the Cybertruck is] such an ‘in your face’ style that it is understandable that viewers would quickly move in one direction or the other,” Libby said. X: the big counterweight, rise of Tesla influencers The small army of Cybertruck boosters on social media (including the most preeminent of influencers) have been gaining followers and rising in prominence along with the ascendency of Tesla CEO Elon Musk as X’s owner and advisor to President-elect Trump. Posts from the leading Tesla influencers have been focusing on the Cybertruck of late but also on new accessories/software and whatever Musk is pushing — and lately that’s Full Self Driving, Cybercab, and vehicle autonomy. Needless to say, social media posts from this crowd are overwhelmingly positive and serve as a counterweight to the beating that Tesla often takes in blogs and traditional media. Sticky reality: Cybertruck is selling Though things could change in future quarters, the current reality is the CT was the third bestselling EV in the U.S. in the third quarter, according to numbers released by Cox Automotive, which owns Kelley Blue Book — outpacing everything but the Tesla Model Y and Model 3. That’s a stat that Tesla detractors usually ignore. The other hard reality is that the vast majority of prospective CT buyers don’t pay attention to fringe media invective but make very practical buying decisions rooted in dollars and cents. Follow me on