Tesla’s Cybertruck, the object of fascination and ridicule, could go into production next year (or keep skipping), and it was supposed to start at the attractive price of $39,900. But that was when the Cybertruck was first announced in 2019, and as Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently put it, “a lot has changed” since then.
Musk said at his company’s annual shareholder meeting that Cybertruck’s specifications and prices “will be different,” citing inflation and other “various issues” that have arisen in the three years since the electric truck’s debut.
Musk said the Cybertruck will be in mass production “by the middle of next year” – but of course, that’s an evolving goal. Production was supposed to begin in late 2021. But in August 2021, the company announced that it was postponing it to 2022 – and later to “hopefully” 2023.
In the meantime, competitors like Ford and Rivian have launched their own electric pickups, and Ford says it plans to build 150,000 F-150 Lightnings by 2023.
Musk did not reveal any details other than to note that the original price would not change. in 2019, Tesla said it will produce three versions of the Cybertruck.
Single-motor rear-wheel drive with 250 miles of range, 7,500 pounds of towing capacity, zero to 60 mph in less than 6.5 seconds and a price tag of $39,900
Two-motor all-wheel drive with a 300-mile range, 10,000-pound towing capacity, zero to 60 mph in less than 4.5 seconds, MSRP $49,900
Three-motor all-wheel drive with a 500-mile range, 14,000-pound towing capacity, and less than 2.9 seconds from standstill to 60 mph for $69,900
Another unanswered question is the number of reservations Tesla currently has. The last reported figure of 650,000 was for June 2020, but presumably, it has still continued to grow rapidly since then. According to Electrek, a crowdsourced Cybertruck reservation count conducted by the Cybertruck Forum put the number of reservations at more than 1 million in May 2021. Over the past year, that number has been growing and is now estimated to be close to 1.5 million reservations.
Meanwhile, Tesla recently (again) raised the price of its electric car lineup – except for the Model 3. And, when a new climate deal proposed by Senate Democrats is revealed, the company is expected to benefit from a new subsidy policy that, if the bill passes, would remove the $7,500 tax credit cap triggered by the sale of 200,000 cars. Tesla was the first automaker to sell 200,000 electric vehicles, thus triggering the phase-out back in 2018.
But the legislation would continue to limit eligibility for the credit to no more than $55,000 for new vehicles and $80,000 for pickups and SUVs, and Tesla could also reprice the Cybertruck if it wants to receive the incentives.
