Tesla has officially built its first Cybertruck, possibly placing the brand within stone’s throw of a climactic end to the electric pickup’s four-year-old saga.
The electric vehicle brand first teased the Cybertruck in 2019, unveiling the prototype to mixed, but mostly positive, reviews. However, despite promising an official launch in 2021, it would take an additional two years for the first model to roll off its Austin, Texas, production line. With the company revealing the news on June 15, 2023, a picture of the pickup, surrounded by cheerful Tesla employees in hardhats, appeared on Twitter early Saturday morning. But even as the business celebrates its success, questions still remain as to how much closer the pickup is to being available for purchase.
For Tesla, the Cybertruck is more than its first entry into the electric pickup market, which competitors such as Ford and Rivian have already breached with the F-150 Lightning and R1T. Rather, the product’s release will be a proving ground for the EV brand’s ability to make good on its promises and continue landing hits with the American electric vehicle consumer.
The vehicle was originally advertised with a variety of distinct features; an “unbreakable” window, a damage-defiant stainless-steel exterior and a 500-mile driving range. But whether some or all of these elements remain is unclear, especially given the brand’s reticence to share precise information on design changes. Furthermore, the company says it has received around 200,000 orders for the Cybertruck. The demand is unsurprising given the company’s aging lineup of cars. However, while it has now successfully built its first unit, it is also uncertain how prepared the truck’s factory is to make more. While CEO Elon Musk has predicted that volume production will start in 2024, these promises feel somewhat empty, coming after two years of missed deadlines and launch date revisions. Ultimately, the truck’s pricing, still unconfirmed but originally advertised as starting below $40,000, could be a key component in its eventual success or failure.
In many ways, the Cybertruck needs to be a success for Tesla, which, despite continuing to dominate the U.S. EV market, is facing increased competition from other automakers, especially abroad. Although it is now much closer to making good on its 2019 promises, it is unclear if the company’s first new product in several years will make the impact necessary to convince shareholders that its staying power is undiminished in the face of shrinking market share, lower profits and a comparatively late entry into a rapidly intensifying electric pickup segment. It is no coincidence that the news arrives just days before the car manufacturer’s quarterly financials are set to release.
However, in previous calls, Musk himself has sought to lower expectations leading up to the electric pickup’s release, noting that the factory will need plenty of time to build momentum due to the Cybetruck’s unique design. “In the grand scheme of things, relative to the production rate of all the other cars we make, it will be small,” the entrepreneur remarked. “But it’s still very cool.” The company is still scheduled to showcase the model in more detail at a delivery event in Q3.
