Elon Musk announced during the company’s fourth-quarter results announcement today that full-size production of the long-awaited Tesla truck won’t begin until 2024.
On the call, Musk was quizzed about whether the next car would be produced by the mid-2023 deadline set in the second quarter of last year. Musk acknowledged that production of the Cybertruck would begin “sometime this summer,” but he’s come to the conclusion that the divisive pickup won’t go into mass production until the following year. “I always try to downplay the importance of going into production,” Musk said. “It increases exponentially, but it’s very slow at first.”
Although there was a great curiosity when the Cybertruck was first revealed in 2019, its construction has been pushed back several times. Pre-production was initially planned to begin in late 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic has caused that to change. Then, it was expected to happen sometime in 2023, a year earlier. In addition, Musk told investors last year that the Cybertruck’s specifications and cost “will be different.”
As an afterthought, Tesla said Wednesday that it has begun preparing the manufacturing tools required to assemble the Cybertruck, including the castings that will create the electric truck’s body. The company’s Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, is expected to be the primary manufacturing site for the Cybertruck.
Industry analysts have warned that for the e-truck to have the desired impact, the timeline needs to be accelerated. According to Jessica Cowell, Managing Director of Insights at Edmunds, “The Cybertruck will enter an increasingly crowded segment of the EV market amidst the F-150 Lightning, GMC Hummer EV, Rivian R1T and possibly the Chevy Silverado EV and RAM 1500 EV closely following.” In a statement, Cowell revealed that “the e-car sounds like old news, which is bad news for Tesla.”
The Cybertruck continues to attract a lot of attention after its extravagant debut, which revealed its abrasive post-apocalyptic look. Tesla might be able to start manufacturing if it throws more metal balls around.
