Online critics also made fun of the space-craft style look.
"I wish Elon Musk hadn't blocked me on Twitter after I said his Mars colonization idea was dumb, so I could tell him how ugly his new #Cybertruck is," tweeted author @MarkDice, who has 1.5 million YouTube followers.
"Just make a normal truck," added another user.
With a starting price of $39,900, the Cybertruck takes aim at the heart of Detroit automakers' profits, while drawing familiar support from Tesla watchers online.
"Yes, it looks like a retro version of the future. It's supposed to. The incredibly simple body lines will lead to incredibly simple manufacturing, while keeping the focus on its performance," said @AElchamaa.
"Electric power-trains are not cheap, but this truck is giving you a lot of it for its money."
To show off the robust design of the new pickup, Musk asked von Holzhausen to take a sledgehammer to the side of the vehicle, whose exterior will be made from the same stainless steel used in the Starship rocket developed by Musk's SpaceX aerospace company.
The crowd cheered when the hammer bounced off the surface without leaving a mark.
But the supposedly tough windows shattered with just one hit.
"Never demonstrate something in a live audience, that you haven't tried repeatedly backstage," wrote another Twitter user, @DrBenH.
JP Miller, CEO of Paul Miller Ford in Lexington, Kentucky, sells an average of 100 new Fords a month, around 40% of which are pickup trucks. Many of them are work trucks and Miller said when watching Tesla's unveiling on Thursday night he could not see any of his customers wanting a Cybertruck.
"I have to say, I was a little confused," Miller said. "Pickup trucks are critical for building America and I couldn't see how that could apply to Tesla's truck."
