A “Cybertruck” goes on sale for $10,800—in Russia

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  It’s not the Cybertruck, but it is a Cybertruck. [credit: auto.ru ]

Tesla’s angular, unpainted Cybertruck sure is polarizing. The company says it will go into production in late 2021, but not everyone wants to wait that long. If you’re Tesla CEO Elon Musk, that’s not a problem—you can just drive the prototype to dinner at Nobu, as long as you have a chase car follow you. But he’s not the only one breaking necks out there. Over in Russia, some of the citizens of the Khimki suburb outside Moscow might also have seen a metallic wedge on the roads recently. And this one is already for sale.

The “Cybertruck” in this case is the work of the YouTubers at Pushka’s Garage, and it follows a long line of Russian homebuilt specials. If you’ve been on the car Internet long enough you’ll probably know what I’m talking about—build threads showing old Porsches or BMWs being made to look like this year’s model with the help of elbow grease and a lot of Bondo (or whatever the Russian equivalent is).

That’s not quite the case here, although I do like the idea of someone buying an old Model S as the starting point. No, this is a lot more low-tech and low-budget. The entire project only cost $1,300, which included the donor car, a VAZ 2109. (This is an angular hatchback that first appeared in the 1980s, which some of us know better as the Lada Samara.) Instead of two electric motors and a whole lot of lithium-ion, this Cybertruck makes do with front-wheel drive and a 1.6L gasoline engine. The body panels are at least made from sheet metal, however.