Four years after introducing its first pickup model, the Cybertruck, the US electric car manufacturer Tesla has started delivering the futuristic-looking vehicle. Company boss Elon Musk handed over the first Cybertrucks to buyers on Thursday at a celebration at the company’s headquarters in Austin, Texas. The car has a starting price of just under 61,000 dollars (almost 56,000 euros). Tesla originally targeted a starting price of $39,900.
“I believe this is our best product,” Musk said Thursday. “I think it’s the most unique thing on the street. Finally the future will look like the future.”
With its angular shapes, the gray Cybertruck is reminiscent of a mixture of a tank and a stealth bomber and of science fiction films such as “Blade Runner” or “Mad Max”. There are already more than a million orders. Given the high production costs, it is questionable whether the model will be financially worthwhile for Tesla.
Embarrassing mishap at first introduction
Musk presented the Cybertruck to the public in November 2019 and described its design as unprecedented. However, there was a glitch at the presentation: during a demonstration of the Cybertruck’s stability, the body withstood blows from a sledgehammer. However, the car windows were badly damaged when a steel ball was thrown.
Tesla boss Elon Musk presents the “Cybertruck”. : Image: AFP
When the first Cybertrucks were delivered on Thursday, Musk laughed about this incident – and had the test repeated. However, the object thrown was apparently just a baseball and not a steel ball. Tesla chief designer Franz von Holzhausen also threw the baseball rather half-heartedly. This time the side windows remained undamaged.
Americans like pickup trucks
With the Cybertruck, Tesla is entering an extremely lucrative market segment in the USA. Pickups are among the most popular vehicles there. Last year, the Chevrolet Silverado was the best-selling model in the country, previously it was often Ford’s F-Series.
The US car giants now offer their own electric pickups. However, so far they are selling in small numbers. GM only sold 18 Silverado EV cars in the last quarter – and around 143,500 vehicles of the model with combustion and hybrid drives. In October, Ford sold a good 3,700 fully electric F-150 Lightnings out of around 53,500 pickups in the F model series in total. Tesla’s rival Rivian, which only focuses on electric vehicles, has only sold a few of its pickups so far.
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The major manufacturers attribute the moderate sales figures not only to initial bottlenecks in production, but also to a currently fundamentally lower interest in the more expensive electric vehicles. Because economic concerns and high interest rates are making car buyers pay more attention to their money.
Tesla wants to build up to 250,000 “Cybertruck” pickups per year – but will probably not reach this mark before 2025, Musk recently said. Only small numbers are currently being produced, while Tesla wants to deliver a total of around 1.8 million vehicles. Investors were not impressed: Tesla shares temporarily fell by around two percent in after-hours trading.
2023-12-01 07:53:47
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