Nov 30 (Portal) – Pricing for Tesla’s (TSLA.O) long-delayed Cybertruck will start at $60,990, over 50% more than what CEO Elon Musk touted in 2019 and a price that which analysts say will attract select, wealthy buyers.
Made of shiny stainless steel and shaped into flat surfaces, the truck was partly inspired by a submarine-converted car in the 1977 James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me,” Musk said.
Its new body material and unconventional, futuristic design have made production more complex and expensive and threaten to alienate traditional pickup buyers focused on utility, experts say.
But Musk, who has priced the vehicle’s three variants between $60,990 and $99,990, said Thursday the Cybertruck is “more usable than a truck” and is “faster than a sports car.”
He drove a Cybertruck onto a stage to cheers from the crowd and later handed off vehicles to about a dozen customers at an event in Austin, Texas.
“Finally, the future will look like the future,” he said of the truck’s design, showing a video of the Cybertruck towing a Porsche 911 and beating another gasoline-powered 911 in a short race.
Tesla shares fell 2% in extended trading after closing down 1.6% at $240.08.
Musk did not disclose the vehicle’s pricing at the event, but prices were listed on Tesla’s website. Its most powerful variant, the Cyberbeast, will be available next year, as will the all-wheel drive trim, which starts at an estimated $80,000.
The cheapest rear-wheel drive version, with an estimated starting price of about $61,000, will be available in 2025.
“This will … definitely appeal to a more affluent clientele who can afford the price and want something unique and quirky,” said Jessica Caldwell, head of insights at auto research firm Edmunds.
“It’s just not a large portion of the population that can afford it, especially where interest rates are high.”
After Musk estimated in 2019 that the Cybertruck would sell for $40,000, the vehicle attracted more than a million reservation holders who paid a $100 deposit. Despite rising raw material costs for electric vehicles, he had not offered an updated price before Monday.
New deposits will amount to $250, Musk said Thursday.
The price is no surprise to many, said Paul Waatti, an analyst at consulting firm AutoPacific. Waatti told Portal before the event that the Cybertruck would be well received by a smaller audience.
GREAT showpiece
Cybertruck, two years behind schedule, is entering a hot pickup truck market to compete with vehicles like Ford’s (FN) F150 Lightning, Rivian Automotive’s (RIVN.O) R1T and General Motors’ (GM.O) Hummer EV. N) to compete.
Rivian’s R1T has a starting price of $73,000, while the F-150 Lightning starts at around $50,000. The larger and more powerful Hummer EV pickup costs more than $96,000.
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The Cybertruck, Tesla’s first new model in almost four years, is crucial to its reputation as a manufacturer of innovative vehicles. At a time when the company is grappling with slowing electric vehicle (EV) demand and increasing competition, Cybertruck is also crucial to generating revenue, although not on the same scale as the high-volume Model 3 and Y the company.
Musk last month tempered investor expectations for the product, citing problems ramping up production and warning it would take a year to 18 months for it to become a significant cash flow contributor.
Before the launch, Musk attracted media attention on a different topic by giving an obscene interview to the New York Times on Wednesday. He cursed advertisers who left his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, because of anti-Semitic comments.
On Thursday he said of the truck: “It’s basically an incredibly useful truck. It’s not just an outstanding showpiece like me.”
UNIMPRESSIVE RANGE
The longest-range version of the Cybertruck can travel an estimated 340 miles (547 km) and comes with a “range extender,” or additional battery, that extends the range to 470 miles.
In 2019, Musk said the truck could travel 500 miles or more on a single charge.
“As trucks, the Ford and Chevy are more useful and certainly easier to spot,” said Sam Abuelsamid, senior research analyst at Guidehouse Insights.
“Given that Teslas almost always fall 10 to 20% short of (range) estimates in real-world driving, I wouldn’t expect the longest-range version of the Cybertruck to travel more than 300 miles on the road,” says he said, noting that the Chevrolet Silverado EV is capable of exceeding its rated range of 450 miles.
Musk has said Tesla is expected to reach a production rate of about 250,000 Cybertrucks per year in 2025. He did not update this on Thursday.
At the unveiling in 2019, Tesla chief designer Franz von Holzhausen took a metal ball to demonstrate the truck’s unbreakable “armored glass” window, only to have it shatter.
Holzhausen threw a baseball at the window of the Cybertruck on Thursday, which bounced off.
Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Hyunjoo Jin and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Writing by Sayantani Ghosh; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Peter Henderson and Deepa Babington
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