It’s been a long wait, but the Cybertruck is finally on its way.
The Tesla Cybertruck was first revealed in 2019, with deliveries planned to kick off in late 2021. Production was pushed back time and time again, but finally, it appears that deliveries will begin in November. Perhaps we should be honored by its lateness.
As covered by Electrek, Tesla announced the Cybertruck has entered pilot production in the publication of its Q3 financial results. The document noted that deliveries were slated to begin next month. Tesla later confirmed on Twitter that a delivery event would be held on November 30, just scraping in under the wire. That’s just a couple of months later than the last official timeline, in which CEO Elon Musk had stated that Cybertruck deliveries would begin by the end of Q3.
Tesla plans to build the Cybertruck in great numbers. Company documents state an “installed annual vehicle capacity” of over 125,000 vehicles for Cybertruck production. However, while the line may be designed for this production rate, it will take some time for Tesla to ramp up to full capacity. Full-rate mass production is expected to be reached in 2024.
The announcement comes as an increasing number of Cybertrucks have been spotted out in public. Examples include one wrapped to look like a Ford F-150, with others spotted in the streets around Tesla’s Fremont factory.
On the company’s earnings call on Wednesday night, Musk noted future plans to ramp up production to 250,000 units per year beyond 2024. While the electric pickup has been a major source of attention for Tesla in recent years, Musk noted that it would take some time to reap the benefits. “It is going to require immense work to reach volume production and be cashflow positive at a price that people can afford,” said the Tesla CEO, adding “I just want to temper expectations for Cybertruck. It’s a great product, but financially, it will take a year to 18 months before it is a significant positive cashflow contributor.”
Exact specifications and pricing are still not available for the Cybertruck. Nevertheless, the company will have its work cut out with over a million pre-orders potentially on the books according to crowd-sourced numbers. It remains to be seen how many of those actually turn into real sales, but even a low conversion rate would get Cybertruck sales off to a brilliant start.
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