Did the working life of Gloucestershire's agri-brigade just get very exciting?

Tesla, who need little introduction even if you only drive a JCB and a battered old Mitsubishi Outlander, hogged the headlines in the USA yesterday when it launched the first customer event for the Cybertuck, a battery-driven beast for all-terrain work which doubles up as a family lifestyle adventure-mobile - all while doing its best to conjure childhood nostalgia for Lego and Meccano.

But with the first deliveries of this weird wedge appearing on Texan driveways from $60,990, UK auto insiders suggest there is no clarity on any decision as yet to allow UK truck-lovers to get behind the wheel. Last year, Tesla removed the chance to pre-order a Cybertruck in the UK and Europe, and Carwow reports that the option hasn't returned yet.

Typically outspoken, CEO Elon Musk revealed yesterday that the project has been a "moneypit", with no expectation that Cybertruck sales will return any significant cashflow for 18 months.

That $60,990 price for the entry-level model is more than 50% in excess of the original projected price, revealed in 2019, and Tesla is at least frank that the model - in line with the sales path of the brand's cars here in the UK - will speak most directly to affluent buyers. Here in the Cotswolds, think gentrified farmers who might otherwise invest in the all-new Landrover Defender; this is no glorified mule.

Those flat panels and have-your-eye-out edges are, Mr Musk says, partly inspired by "Wet Nellie", the sub-aquatic and heavily modified Lotus Esprit S1 which James Bond piloted in The Spy Who Loved Me; while not entirely submersible in its abilities, the Cybertruck's media image gallery certainly suggests it's not scared of deep water.

Any UK reticence from Tesla for the Cybertruck is mirrored by Ford: it recently unleashed the F150 Lighting, which is also entirely electric and has 230 and 320-mile battery range - but has no plans to send it over here.

In fact, only one engineless and emissions-free pickup is currently on sale in the UK, and that's Chinese maker SAIC's Maxus T90 EV, which has two rows of seats, a payload of 1,000kg and an practical official range of 205 miles. At just over £50,000, it can be leased for £349 per month.

And until anything else comes along to challenge it, that's your choice - a remarkable fact when you head home from work today and see how many doublecab and pickup drivers pass you by. Surely they aren't all battery-hating diehard dieselists?