Elon Musk Sets A Date For The First Tesla Cybertruck Deliveries
Tesla will start delivering its Cybertruck on November 30, 2023, following a string of delays, the company has announced — and it has earmarked its Giga Texas manufacturing facility in Austin for the occasion. The news isn't too surprising, as back in August, Tesla chief Elon Musk shared an image of a "production candidate" version of the EV pickup, indicating that validation and market certifications were the only tasks left before deliveries could start.
16 October 2023 Giga Texas! 9 Cybertrucks in the outbound lot, but few Model Y's today. The temporary electrical switchyard seems to be in decommissioning, while the new End-of-Line (EOL) facility on the west side continues to grow! 1/2 pic.twitter.com/X6YoFpSpkb
— Joe Tegtmeyer 🚀 🤠😎 (@JoeTegtmeyer) October 16, 2023
Just days before Tesla's earnings calls, Cybertruck units were photographed outside the Giga Texas facility, a clear sign that Tesla was finally ready to ship them to eager buyers, some of whom have been waiting for quite some time. The Cybertruck was originally announced in 2019, but the first market-ready version only rolled off the assembly line in July 2023.
Tesla started accepting Cybertruck reservations back in 2019, merely requiring interested parties to pay a $100 refundable deposit to secure a unit. With that said, only a lucky few souls will be able to get their hands on the initial batch of trucks. According to a crowd-sourced tracker, the number of Cybertruck reservations may currently stand at more than 2 million.
Cybertruck fans face a long, unpredictable wait
As far as deliveries go, priority will likely be given to company employees if Tesla's track record with the Model 3 is any indication. The company hasn't officially revealed the number of reservations it received, but the wait will likely be lengthy given the long line and production challenges. As part of its third fiscal quarter report, Tesla revealed that it expects an initial pilot production capacity of 125,000 Cybertruck units per year at the Giga Texas facility, but that the number will climb to 250,000. That latter figure likely won't happen next year, though — the company warns that mass production capacity will only be achieved in 2025.
"I do want to emphasize that there will be enormous challenges in reaching volume production with the Cybertruck," Musk said during the earnings call, adding that the company is pouring billions of dollars into its push to bring the ambitious ride to market. But for potential customers, there's another concern: Tesla's website has scrubbed all details of pricing and configurations.
— Cybertruck (@cybertruck) October 18, 2023
The company originally announced a sticker price of $39,900 for the single-motor RWD model, rising to around $60,000 for the dual-motor and touching $70,000 for the triple-motor version. The actual pricing hasn't yet been confirmed and could be surprisingly different. Kelley Blue Book estimates that the base variant will be priced around $50,000, for example. That figure would put the Cybertruck in the same ballpark as the Ford F-150 Lightning and the Chevy Silverado, while the higher-specced versions would target the GMC and Rivian hunting grounds.