Tesla’s long-awaited cybertruck won’t be in full production until 2024, Elon Musk said today during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call.
During the call, Musk was asked if the forthcoming vehicle would meet a mid-2023 production target set in the second quarter of last year. Musk slyly confirmed that Cybertruck production would begin “sometime this summer,” but concluded mass production of the polarizing pickup wouldn’t begin until next year. “I always try to downplay the start of production,” Musk said. “It increases exponentially, but in the beginning it’s very slow.”
Cybertruck was originally announced to widespread interest in 2019, but its production has been delayed several times. Pre-production was originally scheduled to begin in late 2021 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was then scheduled sometime in 2023, a prediction made a year ago. Additionally, Musk told investors last year that Cybertruck’s specs and price “will be different” (read: more expensive).
As a consolation prize, Tesla announced Wednesday that it has begun installing the manufacturing equipment needed to assemble the Cybertruck, including the castings used to make the electric pickup’s body. The Cybertruck will be largely manufactured at the company’s Gigafactory in Austin, Texas.
Industry experts warned that the schedule would need to be shortened for the cybertruck to have the desired impact. “Cybertruck will hit an increasingly crowded sector of the EV market, amidst the F-150 Lightning, the GMC Hummer EV, the Rivian R1T and likely the Chevy Silverado EV and RAM 1500 EV to follow closely behind,” said Jessica Cawell, Edmunds Executive Director of Insights in an email to The Verge. “The downside for Tesla is that the Cybertruck seems almost like old news.”
After its over-the-top reveal that showcased its aggressive, post-apocalyptic design, the Cybertruck still gets a lot of attention. Maybe Tesla can get production going if it throws more metal balls around.