Tesla is set to begin deliveries of its long-delayed, much-hyped Cybertruck electric pickup truck on Thursday after CEO Elon Musk tempered investor expectations, citing problems in ramping up production of what he called a “radical” product.
The Cybertruck, Tesla’s first new model in nearly four years, is crucial to its reputation as a maker of innovative vehicles. At a time when the company is struggling with slowing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and increasing competition, Cybertruck is also key to generating sales, although not to the extent of the company’s high-volume Models 3 and Y.
“We’ve dug our own grave with Cybertruck,” Musk said last month, warning that it would take a year to 18 months for the vehicle to become a significant cash flow contributor.
The Cybertruck will start at $60,990, more than 50 per cent higher than Musk had touted for 2019, a cost that analysts say will attract a select group of wealthy buyers, at least initially.
The truck is made of shiny stainless steel, shaped into flat planes with few, if any, curves. Musk has said it was partly inspired by a car-turned-submarine in the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.
Musk drove a Cybertruck onto a stage to cheers from the crowd and later handed over vehicles to about a dozen customers at an event in Austin, Texas.
“Finally, the future will look like the future,” he said of the truck’s design, showing a video of the Cybertruck towing a Porsche 911 and beating another petrol-powered 911 in a short race.
Tesla shares were down 1% in extended trading after closing down 1.6% at $240.08.
Musk did not announce car prices at the event, but Tesla’s website showed that the “Cyberbeast” – the most powerful variant – and all-wheel-drive versions would sell for estimated starting prices of about $100,000 and $80,000. These will be available next year.
The rear-wheel drive version, with an estimated starting price of around $61,000, would be available in 2025.
Ahead of the launch, Musk grabbed the media’s attention with another topic, giving a profanity-laced interview to the New York Times on Wednesday. He cursed advertisers who had left his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, because of anti-Semitic comments. He also said that customers who didn’t like him should judge his products on their quality, including Tesla’s electric cars.
In 2019, Musk had said the truck would cost $40,000 and that the top-of-the-range version would be able to travel 500 miles or more on a single charge. The billionaire has claimed that Tesla would reach a production rate of around 250,000 Cybertrucks per year in 2025, although even reaching the first day of delivery took two years longer than his original timeline. Tesla faced “enormous challenges in reaching volume production” with the Cybertruck because of its new technology and design, Musk said.
The Cybertruck’s new body material and unconventional, futuristic styling add complexity and cost to production and threaten to alienate traditional pickup truck buyers focused on utility, experts say.
During the 2019 reveal, Tesla’s chief designer Franz von Holzhausen used a metal ball to demonstrate the truck’s unbreakable “armour glass” window, only to shatter it.
A few years ago, Musk floated the idea that if people didn’t like the futuristic design of the Cybertruck, Tesla could “build a normal-looking truck”. In recent calls and interviews, he has emphasised the model’s innovation.
“The bigger problem with the Cybertruck is that the Cybertruck wasn’t really designed for pickup truck users,” said Eric Noble, president of automotive consultancy The Carlab. “It will have a much narrower appeal than a Ram or an F-Series,” he said of the popular Ford F-150 pickup.
Cybertruck, which is two years behind schedule, enters a hot and highly profitable pickup truck market to compete with the likes of Ford’s F-150 Lightning, Rivian Automotive’s R1T and General Motors’ Hummer EV.
Rivian’s R1T has a starting price of $73,000, while Ford’s F-150 Lightning starts at around $50,000, while the larger and more powerful GMC Hummer EV pickup costs more than $96,000.
Cybertruck has attracted more than a million reservation holders who have put down a $100 deposit. “Tesla’s products have largely appealed to more affluent early adopter types. And this will be no different,” said Paul Waatti, an analyst at consulting firm AutoPacific. “It’s going to have a smaller audience than the SUVs, but I think it’s going to do surprisingly well.”
