Tesla told its shareholder meeting in Texas this week that it expects to build between 250,000 and 500,000 units of its hotly anticipated Cybertruck a year, although it will be heavily dependent on final demand.
This figures released by Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, in response to a shareholder question is a significant jump from previous estimates around the 250,000 mark.
The updated production estimates indicate that after the production S-curve was at its peak, it would still take years to fulfil over 1 million reservations on the product.
These reservation numbers could be much lower if the pricing is higher than what was originally announced, so due to changing economic conditions, demand may not be at those estimated levels.
Tesla is planning on holding a delivery event at the end of next quarter as more Alpha prototype units are spotted in California and Texas.
Last weekend, there were spottings of huge Cybertruck underbody castings at Tesla’s GigaTexas factory.
Previously, several key features of the Cybertruck have been finalised including a large windscreen wiper which was spotted even in Texas while the truck was undergoing wind tunnel testing.
There are many unconventional features of this product, the most notable being the exterior which is the sharp angles steel outer body. This could make the production more challenging hence increasing the cost of the product.
These higher costs will also have an impact on the selling price which is expected to be higher than what was announced. At the original announcement, the Cybertruck was expected to have a starting price of $US39,900 and all the way up to $US69,000.
Now that a Tesla Model 3 in the US starts at $US40,240, it is unlikely that the Cybertruck would come under this price.
More on pricing will be revealed later this year before the official Cybertruck delivery event.
At the shareholder’s event, the company showcased the new utility vehicle in many sections of the meeting including a video with the Telsa bot.
Tesla Cybertruck showcased in the Tesla bot development video:
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.