John Lamparski/WireImage and Courtesy of @mchambers_22, @jcov_84, and @Stoopdogg84
Ford CEO Jim Farley weighed in on a viral video of a Tesla Cybertruck getting towed by a Ford truck on Tuesday.
"Just to be clear… this is a Super Duty and NOT advertising," Farley wrote on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. "Glad a @Ford owner was there to help."
The video that is making the rounds on social media shows a Cybertruck that appears to have gotten stuck off-roading while hauling a pine tree. The video was first posted by @mchambers_22 on Instagram and it shows Tesla's truck spinning its wheels in a snow-covered field while a Ford truck slowly pulls it back onto a dirt road.
The instagram user, Matt Chambers, told Business Insider the Cybertruck driver said they were a Tesla engineer. The video shows the Cybertruck still has the RC (release candidate) inscription on its driver side door, meaning the car is likely a prototype undergoing testing.
BI was not able to independently confirm the driver's identity and Tesla didn't respond to a request for comment.
Chambers said there were several issues that could have contributed to the Cybertruck getting stuck. He said on Instagram that the Tesla didn't have locking differentials — a mechanism that can help improve traction on difficult terrain— "due to software issues." He also said the tires had not been "aired down" to improve traction.
While many used the video as an opportunity to poke fun at the Cybertruck, Ford's CEO wrote on X: "If you spend enough time on trails, it happens to everyone at some point."
It's not the first time the Cybertruck has been compared to a Ford truck. Last month, Farley posted a video of an F-150 Lightning navigating the same hill on an off-roading trail that a Cybertruck had appeared to struggle to summit only weeks before.
"F-150 Lightning does it all," Farley captioned the video.
Earlier this year, Farley said Ford doesn't see the Cybertruck as competition, dubbing Elon Musk's futuristic pickup a truck for "Silicon Valley people."
"I don't make trucks like that," Farley told CNBC in July. "I make trucks for real people who do real work, and that's a different kind of truck."
The F-150 Lightning was first released in 2022 and is Ford's first fully electric pickup truck. Meanwhile, Tesla delivered its first dozen Cybertrucks last month. The electric-car maker is still in the early stages of ramping up production, with new orders for higher-end models expected to be fulfilled next year at the soonest, and the most affordable model unavailable until 2025.
