Love him or hate him, Elon Musk is the face of Tesla, and at his core, he’s just a nerdy billionaire. His love of science fiction has brought the world many great things, however, such as his electric cars or his own rocket ships. His love for science fiction may also be the reason why the much anticipated Tesla pickup truck will be unveiled this November.

Tesla’s truck is Blade Runner inspired 

As Musk implied in his tweets about a recent Tesla webcast, Blade Runner and its cyberpunk world were major influences in the design of the Tesla pickup truck. Musk later went on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast and once again confirmed that Tesla’s pickup truck will be “even more Blade Runner” than a picture of a futuristic truck that Rogan had shown to Musk. 

Blade Runner was a movie from 1982 that featured a futuristic world full of flying cars and androids prowling the streets of America. While Tesla’s pickup truck likely won’t be flying, the inspiration for its design will likely be based on the design of the cars from Blade Runner.

In fact, Musk even has gone so far as to say that if this Blade Runner inspired design doesn’t sell well, then Tesla will design a more conventional looking pickup truck. However, Blade Runner may have inspired Musk beyond just the design of the truck.

Just look at the opening credits

As InsideEVs reported, the opening credits of Blade Runner says plainly, “Los Angeles November, 2019.” This would be the third Blade Runner reference that Musk had made in regard to Tesla’s pickup truck. Given his love for science fiction, this could be a little easter egg that Musk and Tesla have created just for the fun of it. 

This Blade Runner easter egg was likely planned far in advance, however, as InsideEVs mentioned that Musk said in late 2018 that he’d like to unveil Tesla’s prototype pickup truck in 2019. It’s not known, however, how long Musk and Tesla have been planning this. But, as InsideEVs said, Tesla first mentioned making an electric pickup truck in 2016.

It’s not inconceivable that Musk and Tesla have intentionally waited until November of 2019 to unveil the pickup truck. It’s a great marketing tactic too, as this easter egg will get a lot of people, both on social media and on regular media networks, talking about how awesome and nerdy Musk is for doing this. 

Unveiling the Tesla pickup truck in Los Angeles is also a no-brainer. L.A. in the Blade Runner universe is as big and important of a city as L.A. is in modern-day. And on top of that, the L.A. Auto Show will be starting in late November, and Tesla will have a building to showcase its new cars. It’ll be the perfect place to unveil the Tesla pickup truck.

The potential unveiling of the Tesla pickup truck

If nothing goes wrong, then Tesla’s pickup will likely be unveiled at the L.A. Auto Show this November. However, Musk could go all-in on his love for Blade Runner. Harrison Ford, the star of Blade Runner, is an avid environmentalist as well as a Tesla owner. If Musk could get Ford in on the unveiling of the truck, then that could generate a lot of hype for it. 

Details for the truck itself are sparse, however. The latest info from InsideEVs is that the Tesla pickup truck will have an approximately 500-mile range, will be able to tow about 15,000 lb of cargo, and will be able to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds. Of course, until the Tesla pickup truck is unveiled, nobody will know for sure.