Tesla Cybertruck now underdog in rematch against Ford F-150
Tesla’s futuristic Cybertruck will have its work cut out for it in a rematch against the gas-guzzling Ford F-150, according to oddsmakers.
MyBookie — one of the nation’s most popular betting sites — now lists the Ford F-150 as the odds-on favorite to beat Elon Musk’s new pickup.
While a $100 bet on the Tesla would win you $110, the same bet on Ford would win you just over $75, according to the site.
Earlier this week, a different bookmaker had Tesla as a 5-to-2 favorite to win the tug-of-war.
Fred Lambert, editor of the Tesla-centric blog Electrek, called the new betting line “crazy,” pointing out that Ford backed out of the challenge earlier this week.
The Cybertruck’s maximum payload is rated at 3,500 pounds, while the latest F-150 can carry 3,270. Tesla claims its upcoming truck can tow 14,000 pounds — 800 more than then F-150 can.
Musk’s “Blade Runner”-inspired truck handily beat a Ford F-150 in a demo shown during the truck’s launch last week. The 16-second clip shows the Cybertruck easily towing the F-150 up a hill with its wheels screeching and spinning.
But the fight looked lopsided to many, as it appeared to pit an all-wheel-drive Tesla against a rear-wheel-drive Ford.
Famed astrophysicist and Musk fan Neil deGrasse Tyson suggested the Tesla co-founder could repeat the test with both trucks loaded “to the max” to see which one has more torque. Musk said he would aim to do that next week.
On Tuesday, however, Ford appeared to have backed down from the contest, with a company rep calling a Ford exec’s earlier demand for a rematch “tongue-in-cheek”.
“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,” a spokesman said.
Musk claimed this week that Tesla enthusiasts have already placed more than 250,000 “orders” for the Cybertruck, which is slated for launch in late 2021. The orders, which cost $100, are refundable.