I was surprised to hear that Tesla is billing itself on Twitter as selling the top selling electric pickup truck of the year with the 2024 CyberTruck.
Not only because the CyberTruck is… well… controversially styled and has a spotty performance record. Mostly, I was surprised because Tesla does not report the actual number of CyberTrucks they sell!
How can they be outperforming anybody if we don’t know what number they’re producing? So I calculated the number, they delivered roughly 34,438 CyberTrucks in 2024. See the methodology for estimation on this related post.
True enough, that beats the Ford F-150 Lightning delivery numbers if my estimates are correct. I thought, though, why limit ourselves to the US market? What about globally? I was fairly sure a Chinese manufacturer was cranking out huge volume of light EUVs, probably in a Kei Truck type form factor. So I thought I would do a bit of journalism and see if Tesla’s statement held true worldwide.
“Let’s Ask Chinese Manufacturers How Many EV Trucks They Sell, It’ll Be Great”
In my investigation, I did quickly find a number of vehicles available from a variety of manufacturers, exactly as expected. One marketplace to connect potential importers to these manufacturers is Made In China Dot Com. I wont be linking it for reasons that will shortly become clear.
So, I reach out to the most prominent listing for a light-duty EV Kei Truck. They report 100,000 units sold, which looks like they must have rounded it off, and I ask them to confirm that production number for me. This is where things get weird.
“hello.”
I receive a not-at-all surprising reply from the manufacturer’s representative for anyone who has done international business. No punctuation, no signature, just a plain old greeting.
“hello”
Let’s talk, I guess!
The plot thickens: Find your answers in this (totally safe) PDF
I don’t reply to one word emails, because the truth is, I don’t want to talk. Not my style.
So I actually am slightly surprised when the manufacturers representative reaches out again, this time with punctuation and an entirely more professional tone of voice. The thought “AI-Generated?” crossed my mind.
They appreciate my inquiry, and are happy to answer my question about volume of deliveries for their electric Kei Truck. I can find the answer to my question… in the attached PDF.
Now, I’m from the southside of Chicago, and as we like to say, “I wasn’t born yesterday.” I’m a naturally distrustful person, and so this makes me suspicious. There’s no reason a manufacturers rep would package an answer to a question like this into a PDF, at least none that I can think of. After all, it’s too early for the product brochure to include an accurate production number for the year 2024.
I also come from a cybersecurity background, among other fun diversions, and so I’m reasonably hard to spear-phish. At least, I hope so, knock on wood! I’m aware that PDFs are a common tool used by hackers to breach unsuspecting victims’ networks.
Sure enough, I scan the PDF in the inbox, and it is GLOWING LIKE CHERNOBYL. Ope, let’s mark that as phishing, delete everything, scan my Linux install just in case, go through the usual procedure to ensure my workspace isn’t compromised.
I’m not surprised by the phishing. I am surprised by the SPEED.
So, suffice it to say, we won’t be learning how many electric pickup trucks were sold in China, their offensive cybersecurity teams are just a little too “on the ball” to interact safely with their companies.
None of this is particularly surprising. What I DID find surprising was the speed and efficiency of the attack. They must be hitting Western victims with some regularity.
If I were to, for instance, try to buy a car at the Ford Dealership down the street, I would be LUCKY to hear back in 2 days. Interacting with Chinese businesses, I get a shockingly fast reply – it’s just has altogether more malware than I was hoping for!
