Mayor of Tulsa says the city will buy Cybertrucks to use as police cars if Elon Musk picks it for Tesla’s new factory
- As creative renditions of Tesla’s planned Cybertruck flourish online, the city of Tulsa has a particularly strategic one.
- In a tweet, Tulsa, Oklahoma’s mayor appeared to tell CEO Elon Musk the city would buy the eventual truck for police use.
- Last week, Tesla representatives scouted Tulsa and Austin as potential locations for the company’s fifth factory where it will build the truck.
The mayor of Tulsa, OK is using anything he can to entice Tesla to build its next factory there.
In a tweet to chief executive Elon Musk on Sunday, mayor G.T. Bynum said it would “only be right” to buy local, coupled with a sleek rendering of Tesla’s Cybertruck as a Tulsa police squad car.
Last week, company representatives scoped out Tulsa and Austin, Texas as candidates for Tesla’s fifth factory, The Verge reported. The factory, which Musk has previously hinted at scouting locations for on Twitter, will eventually produce the company’s Model Y and Cybertruck.
Musk told investors on an April 29 call that its decision would be made in the next three months, and as soon May
In a statement posted to Facebook, Mayor Bynum said he couldn’t comment on the negotiations but continued to court Tesla.
“While I cannot comment on potential projects, it is clear that Tesla and Tulsa were forged in the same spirit,” he said. “Both founded by pioneers who dreamt big and made it happen. Both trying to change the world with a new kind of energy. Both investing big in what matters most: people. Tulsa is a city that doesn’t stifle entrepreneurs — we revere them. And as Tesla continues to rapidly change transportation all around the world, I can’t imagine a better place for tem to further that important work than Green Country.”
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said that with names so similar, Tulsa should be the obvious choice for Tesla.
“To the press, we can’t comment on any pending proposals,” Stitt said, according to local media. “To (Tesla CEO) Elon Musk and Tesla, the people of Oklahoma love our trucks, we love our rockets and we would love to partner with you here in our great state. As a Tulsan myself, I can tell you that confusing the names Tulsa and Tesla has happened more than once, so it would only be appropriate to have a Tesla factory right here.
The police rendering is far from the only way digital creatives on the internet have envisioned Tesla’s cybertruck, which Musk debuted in 2019 with an unexpected glass-breaking event. Renditions of the truck have popped up as an RV-base, racecar, and more.