Remember the tug-of-war rematch challenge that Ford laid out to Tesla on Twitter? Yeah, well, that’s gone for now. Apparently, the tweet from the Ford X’s Vice President Sundeep Madra was just a tongue-in-cheek statement and not a challenge per se.

Just when it looked like we’ll have an “apples to apples” face-off, Ford has chickened out. Oh boy! Mr. Madra, what have you done?

Why, Ford, Why?!

Ford was the one to propose the rematch and it’s quite surprising that the company changed its mind on going forward with it. The Cybertruck’s tug-of-war with the Ford F-150 went viral as soon as the video was uploaded online. Just like the Cybertruck’s looks, even this drew polarizing opinions; some in favor of the Tesla, some heckling them.

Engineering Explained laid out a video that explains this ‘scam’ and revealed the Tesla truck holds advantage in almost all the aspects. Even Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted that “A badass @Tesla looking like it’s doing a badass thing. But if the @Ford F-150 is RWD **with no payload** then weight on the Rear Axle is greatly reduced, offering only mild traction for the Tesla to overcome. This contest is more about the Physics of Friction than Engine Power.”

That’s a Lousy Excuse

According to an e-mail sent to TechCrunch, a Ford spokesperson said that “Sunny’s tweet was tongue in cheek to point out the absurdity of Tesla’s video, nothing more. With America’s best-selling truck for 42 years, we’ve always focused on serving our truck customers regardless of what others say or do. We look forward to our all-new F-150 hybrid coming next year and all-electric F-150 in a few years.”

For a company whose product is the top-selling vehicle in the U.S. for over four decades, this does not reflect very well.

How It All Started?

Musk took up the offer from the tweet above and replied with “Bring it on.” This led to a series of events that ended up with Tesla suggesting a timeline as soon as next week to conduct the challenge. Given the way Ford answered Musk’s towing claim, this could’ve been an interesting fight.

To refresh your memory, Musk had announced a 300,000-pound towing capacity for the Tesla pickup truck a few months back and Ford was quick to reply by introducing the electric F-150 prototype that could tow 1.25 million pounds.

In fact, Ford released a video compared to Musk’s verbal claim. With the way Ford backed out, it only means one thing – the Tesla Cybertruck can actually pull the Ford F-150 effortlessly. I really doubt that’s the case, but Ford is not ready to go ahead with the challenge. And since the Cybertruck is not launched yet, we can’t even have owners and independent vloggers do it on behalf of Ford.

Final Thoughts

Now that Ford does not want to be a part of this, it’ll be interesting to see if any other automaker challenges Tesla. I’m looking forward to Ram taking the charge, considering what a productive year it has had. Not to mention that the new EcoDiesel 1500 comes with segment-leading towing and payload capacities as well. Can it give Tesla a taste of its own medicine? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.