Tesla founder Elon Musk has unveiled the Cybertruck, a bulletproof electric vehicle clad in the same kind of steel being used to make SpaceX's Starship space craft.

Designed to look like the cross between a pickup truck and a stealth fighter jet, the Cybertruck combines a sports car's acceleration with off-road driving capabilities.

Panels of cold-rolled stainless steel – the same metal alloy being used for the Starship rocket being developed for trips to Mars – cover its angular body.

To demonstrate the six-seater truck's toughness at its unveiling onstage at an event in Los Angeles, the vehicle's door was hit with a sledgehammer without leaving a mark.

The windows are made of Tesla Armor Glass, which is designed to be bulletproof against a nine-millimetre handgun. However the glass shattered when metal balls were thrown at the side windows during the launch event.

Tesla's Cybertruck can accelerate to 60 miles per hour in just 2.6 seconds and can tow loads of up to 6,400 kilograms.

Owners will be able to charge their vehicle at home and at Tesla's free Destination Charging points, and it has a range of over 500 miles on just one charge.

Prices will start at $39,900 for a single-motor rear-wheel-drive model, with an option to pay an extra $7,000 to secure a self-driving version. The Cybertruck will go into production in 2022.

Earlier this year Tesla brought out the Model Y, a combination SUV and sports car that Musk claimed will be the "safest midsize-SUV in the world".

Billionaire Musk, who founded Tesla and Space X, has also founded a startup to connect people's brains to computer interfaces via artificial intelligence. Called Neuralink, the implants could allow people to use technology just by thinking about it.

As CEO of SpaceX, Musk also plans to colonise Mars with private space missions. Last year he shot his own car – a cherry red Tesla Roadster – into space on the maiden flight of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Rocket.