{"id":229582,"date":"2022-08-08T13:07:12","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T17:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=229582"},"modified":"2022-08-08T13:07:22","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T17:07:22","slug":"two-years-late-tesla-cybertruck-will-now-cost-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2022\/08\/two-years-late-tesla-cybertruck-will-now-cost-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Years Late, Tesla Cybertruck Will Now Cost More"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The long-delayed Tesla Cybertruck will cost more and will have \u201cdifferent\u201d specs than when the all-electric pickup was first announced in 2019, CEO Elon Musk revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tesla
Tesla CEO Elon Musk rolled out the Cybertruck in 2019 with plans calling for it to be in buyer’s driveways in 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Originally set to go on sale in 2021, the Cybertruck now has been pushed back to \u201chopefully\u201d sometime in 2023<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, according to the Tesla chief executive. With some sources estimating the carmaker has taken in more than 1 million advance reservations, industry analysts are wondering what delays and higher prices will actually mean for Tesla once the pickup finally does go on sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After praising the truck as \u201cone hell of a product,\u201d Musk said he had \u201ca little bit of bad news.\u201d And that starts with the announcement that pricing will go from what was originally laid out when Cybertruck was first revealed \u2014 though Tesla isn\u2019t ready to give any new numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plenty of competition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The original plan was to introduce a single-motor version of the pickup for $39,900, with a peppier dual-motor model at $49,900. The high-performance, three-motor Cybertruck would start at $69,900, Tesla announced nearly three years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hummer-line-at-Factory-Zero\"
Cybertruck was originally going to be first to market, but the delays put it behind the GMC Hummer EV.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Any increase could be problematic considering both the delays in delivering the first Cybertruck and what competitors are coming in at, in terms of pricing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Had Tesla met its original 2021 timetable it would have beaten to market both the GMC Hummer EV and Rivian R1T<\/a><\/span><\/strong>. It\u2019s now got to worry about the recent launch of the Ford F-150 Lightning \u2014 which offers a base work truck version for $39,974 plus delivery fees. By early next year, Chevrolet will launch its own Silverado EV with a base model coming in around $39,000, as well. And other competition is on the way, both from startups and more established manufacturers, Ram set to launch an EV version of its own full-size pickup in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raw material costs pose a major problem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tesla isn\u2019t the only manufacturer raising EV prices<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, however. With the cost of raw materials \u2014 notably those needed for batteries, such as lithium, cobalt and nickel \u2014 soaring this year, the price of the typical electric vehicle has risen faster than for conventional gas-powered models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"First
Rivian’s R1T also managed to hit the streets before the Cybertruck.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Bank of America analyst John Murphy warned in June that such price increases could significantly slow demand for EVs if they don\u2019t begin to level off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tesla in June raised the price for all of its products but the Model 3 by 10 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot has changed\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Musk acknowledged “A lot has changed since\u201d Cybertruck was first unveiled, \u201cso the specs and pricing will be different.\u201d Nonetheless, he added, it\u2019s still \u201cgonna be a damn fine machine.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the idea of paying more might disappoint some of the Cybertruck reservation holders, the positive news is the electric pickup really will go into production \u2014 at least if Musk sticks to his latest pronouncement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s been all over the map since 2019, at several points over the last year leaving analysts to speculate whether Cybertruck actually would make it into production. However, several there have been several reports of the company installing a massive press at its Texas-based gigafactory, which would be needed to handle the Cybertruck stampings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ford
The F-150 Lightning EV went from idea to production in less time than Cybertruck production.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

FSD and Optimus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During his presentation, Musk offered insight into two other Tesla projects. He indicated the $12,000 Full Self-Driving system will be significantly updated, the CEO previously promising it will become a full hands-free system. But it needs to be noted that Musk has made similar forecasts for several years. If anything, Tesla\u2019s Autopilot and FSD systems are now the target of numerous investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after a series of crashes, some fatal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Musk seemed undeterred, declaring once FSD is fully functional and drawing in more buyers it will deliver a big boost to Tesla revenues. It \u201cwill really be an amplification of free cash flow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The South African-born entrepreneur also updated an audience of fans and investors on the status of Optimus, the company\u2019s humanoid robot. A working version is set to be shown off during Tesla AI Day on Sept. 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Optimus, he said, “will be more valuable than the car long term and, in fact, it will turn the whole notion of what’s an economy on its head.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of the U.S. economy, Musk said he expects to see a recession this year, but one he believes will be \u201crelatively mild.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The long-delayed Tesla Cybertruck will cost more and will have \u201cdifferent\u201d specs than when the all-electric pickup was first announced in 2019, CEO Elon Musk revealed. Find out more at TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7,8,5,1608,1164,3185,2648,1347,9],"tags":[7035,990,663,386,7183],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229582"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229601,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229582\/revisions\/229601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229582"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=229582"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=229582"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=229582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}