Earlier this year, Space Campers became the latest startup to announce a slick camper for the Tesla Cybertruck. It billed it as a truck-back "Swiss Army knife" at the time, and it wasn't kidding. A newly released video dives into the camper's feature set, and it shows an RV that operates like one big, impressive multitool. The design includes furniture that rearranges for indoor/outdoor cooking, sleeping, dining and lounging, a bed platform that doubles as a tabletop and a movie screen, and an incognito mode for stealthier, more secure camping. If it actually makes it to production, this truck topper might just end up being the most versatile micro-camper out there.
The latest intel from the hardworking folks at Reuters now puts the Cybertruck's mass production start at late 2023, with "early" production beginning sometime around the middle of next year. With that in mind, Space Campers is eager to ensure that reservation holders and new shoppers don't forget the camper exists as their Cybertruck dreams inch closer to reality. The company released a new video on Thursday for a closer look at the camper's features and design.
The narrated video is still merely an animation and starts off with some rehashed info we learned back in June, but it does nicely illustrate how some of the multipurpose furnishings and components move around to maximize layout functionality. It also goes through a few new tidbits we don't recall from Space's June introduction, showing how the standard storage compartment converts over to a mini-kitchen and how chefs can take their cooking outdoors with an available hitch-mounted swivel rack.
Other points of interest include magnetic bedroom lights that secure to the metallic roof and move where they're needed and a "Stargazing Mode" that lets campers slide the head of the bed outside to fall asleep under the stars. The biggest highlight, though, is the bed platform that transforms into an outdoor dining table, then flips up for use as a viewing screen for outdoor movie night. Space Campers plans to complement the multipurpose panel with a portable projector that can also be used inside the sleeper roof.
All in all, Space teases an impressive feature set that leverages multifunctional design to turn a small, awkwardly shaped pickup bed into a comfy indoor/outdoor base camp of near-glamping proportions. We already thought the Space Camper to be the smartest (and most likely to actually materialize) third-party Cybertruck camper design so far. It fits the Cybertruck neatly and arguably improves its rough aesthetics. More importantly, it avoids the pitfalls of the early competition – like introducing an unnecessary number of moving segments, diving off the deep end with amphibious gear, and creating a morphing A-frame box that looks like it would be far better off as a trailer.
Of course, Space still has the tall task of pulling its camper shell out of rendered video and making it a product. And the starting price of US$24,000 is still very high for a pickup topper, especially since many features (kitchen, shower, roof rack) are sold as optional add-ons. It doesn't help matters that the lowest reservation tier is sold out through 2024, according to Space's announcement this week, so interested buyers will now have to cough up more to hold their place in line ... for a rendered camper built by a brand-new startup to match a truck that still isn't in production.
We'll take a hard pass on that, but the new video below is still an interesting watch:
Source: Space Campers
