According to the report, Tesla aims to start mass production of the Cybertruck electric pickup by the end of 2023, which is more than Tesla CEO Musk announced in 2019. The long-running electric pickup was initially targeted two years later.
Tesla said last month that it was working to prepare its Austin, Texas, plant to build the new model, with “early production” to begin in mid-2023. “We’re in the final days of Cybertruck,” Musk said on a conference call with financial analysts.
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Production of the CyberTruck electric pickup will ramp up in the second half of 2023, meaning Tesla won’t record revenue until early 2024, as production of the new model is seen as key to its growth.
It also means hundreds of thousands of potential buyers are estimated to have paid $100 to book a Tesla Cybertruck in the most anticipated and closely tracked EV launch of all time, and they’ll have to wait any longer one year.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tesla has not announced final pricing for the Cybertruck, nor has it shown a production version of the car or how it will manage the battery supply for the new model.
In 2019, Tesla expected the initial price of Cybertruck to be less than $40,000, but since then the price of new cars has skyrocketed, and Tesla has raised the price of the entire product line.
The launch of the Tesla Cybertruck will give Tesla a new track entry in one of the most lucrative segments of the U.S. market and make it a contender for electric pickups from the likes of Ford Motor and Rivian Automotive, which have launched a number of models still limited.
In January, Musk had said a shortage of procured parts was the reason for delaying the Cybertruck launch until 2023. In May, Tesla stopped taking orders for the Cybertruck outside of North America. Musk said at the time that the company had “more orders for the first Cybertruck than we could possibly fulfill within three years of starting production.”
For brand-new models like the Cybertruck, automakers typically ramp up production slowly. Analysts also cautioned that a weakening global economy will start to affect Tesla’s sales, which have so far been able to sell every vehicle it has produced. Musk has said that the impending recession is expected “likely to last until the spring of 2024.”
IDRA Group, the Italian company that makes the Giga Press die-casting machine that will be used for the Cybertruck’s die-cast parts, said in a LinkedIn post last week that the 9,000-ton die-casting machine for truck parts production has been packaged for shipment.
The post makes no mention of Tesla. Tesla has been using the Giga Press to cut production costs and complexity for the Model Y, and other automakers, including Toyota, are working on the innovation.
