Tesla CEO Elon Musk took the stage reveal details about the company’s new and unconventional Cybertruck pickup Thursday in Austin, Texas, a day after appearing in a strange interview at the DealBook Summit in New York. At that earlier event, Musk boasted, “It’s going to be the biggest product launch of anything on Earth this year.”
In a dimly lit event space at the company’s headquarters, Elon Musk wowed the fans in attendance by saying, “What we have here is a better truck than a truck, and it’s also a better sports car than a sports car in the same package. “
Musk said the Cybertruck’s hard steel body was bulletproof and its windows were “watertight.” He said it could tow more than 11,000 pounds, go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds, and feature an “ultra-tough” composite bed that’s six feet long and four feet wide. He added that the vehicle will “change the face of the roads” and that “the future finally looks like the future”.
The Tesla CEO did not immediately mention pricing and battery range for the Cybertruck. Tesla’s website would reveal that the base rear-wheel-drive model for the Cybertruck is now priced about 50 percent higher than the $40,000 the company originally targeted before any tax breaks or other incentives.
He then showed several “production Cybertrucks” to customers who drove away.
In an earnings call in October, Musk struck a more cautious note, saying, “There are going to be tremendous challenges in getting to production volume with the Cybertruck and then making the Cybertruck cash flow positive.” He also said at the time, “we dug our own grave with the Cybertruck,” noting “unique challenges” in producing and bringing that truck to market.
According to Tesla’s Website, the company will sell the base model of the rear-wheel drive version of the Cybertruck for about $60,990 and a “Cyberbeast” version for $99,990, with the all-wheel drive version costing $79,900. Customer deliveries will begin for the four-wheel drive version and the Cyberbeast in 2024, the website says, and for the base model in 2025.
The base rear-wheel-drive Cybertruck is expected to have a 250-mile battery range and go from 0 to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds, and the all-wheel-drive Cybertruck is expected to have a range of 340 miles and 0 to 60 mph in 4. 1 seconds with a top speed of 112 miles per hour. The top-tier Cyberbeast would have the fastest acceleration and an estimated range of 320 miles, with a top speed of 130 miles per hour.
Tesla first revealed the Cybertruck — with its angular and unpainted hard steel body — in November 2019. It previously said the vehicle would go into production in 2021, and the truck would sell for a starting price of $39,900 for a rear wheel drive version and about $69,000 for a higher-spec three-motor version, which is much more affordable than the prices Tesla reported on Thursday.
The company began taking $100 refundable “reservations” for the Cybertruck after it was unveiled, and the company said it has received more than a million reservations since its debut. Customers must now pay $250 to move forward with a Cybertruck order, according to Tesla’s website.
While Tesla revealed the Cybertruck design in 2019, it only started early Cybertruck production in July of this year.
Meanwhile, competitors including Passage, General Motors and Rivian started selling their most utilitarian electric pickups. Earlier this week, Rivian, which makes battery-only electric vehicles similar to Tesla, began offering a lease option for select models of its R1T all-electric truck.
The electric truck market in the US hasn’t expanded as quickly as some thought when the Cybertruck was first revealed. Several startups have either brought vehicles to market or managed to do so with little success, such as Lordstown Motors. Both GM and Ford have announced plans to reduce, postpone or cancel EV products and investments, including some related to EV trucks.
Tesla shares closed down about 2% on Thursday and were flat after hours.
— CNBC’s Mike Wayland contributed to this report.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the years in which Tesla plans to begin deliveries of different Cybertruck variants to customers.
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