High inflation and material costs mean the hotly-anticipated Tesla Cybertruck is unlikely to be as affordable as initially planned, once it goes on sale in the US next year.
The 2023 Tesla Cybertruck will be priced higher than first announced more than three years ago, Elon Musk has indicated, once the ute goes on sale as soon as the middle of next year.
Speaking to investors on Friday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed final Cybertruck prices will be “different” from those announced in late 2019, due to far higher material and production costs – as well as record inflation – that have emerged over the last three years.
“Cybertruck pricing, it was unveiled in 2019, and the reservation was $US99. A lot has changed since then, so the specs and the pricing will be different,” Musk told investors, as quoted by InsideEVs.
“I hate to give sort of a little bit of bad news, but I think there’s no way to sort of have anticipated quite the inflation that we’ve seen and the various issues.”
When it was revealed in late 2019, Tesla quoted a starting price of $US39,900 ($AU57,600 today) for an entry-level single-motor Cybertruck, with dearer dual-motor and tri-motor variants above it.
While that price could have bought an entry-level Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus ($US39,490) in 2019, the same vehicle now – albeit with a longer driving range and additional features – costs $US46,990 to buy in the US.
Tesla removed the pricing and specifications announced at the Cybertruck concept’s reveal in 2019 from its website in late 2021 – suggesting it’s known for a while these launch prices would no longer be feasible.
Although Musk’s comments represent the first official confirmation that Cybertruck pricing will change for production – likely for the worse – it will come at no surprise to industry analysts, given rising production costs have new-car prices up across nearly all car brands and models.
In the last 18 months alone, Tesla has increased the price of a Model 3 Long Range in the US from about $US48,000 ($AU69,300) in early 2021, to $US57,990 ($AU83,800) today – up more than 20 per cent.
It follows comments from Elon Musk late last month, when he admitted price rises across Tesla’s range have been “not something we can control”, but ultimately “embarrassing”.
“Since there’s quite a long wait when somebody orders our car – it’s like six months or so, or in some cases, up to a year – we have to anticipate what the global inflation rate is over that period of time,” Musk told media and investors last month.
“So that’s what we’re trying to do on the [price rises] … It’s possible that there could be a slight decrease in car prices. But this is mainly dependent on that global economic inflation, which is not something we can control.”
“I do feel like we’ve raised our prices quite a few times there, frankly, [to] embarrassing levels.”
Musk says the Cybertruck remains on track to go into production in mid 2023 – 18 months later than first planned in 2019, but in line with dates announced over the course of this year.
It remains to be seen how Cybertruck specifications will change, however Elon Musk has previously indicated the ute would launch with four electric motors, rather than one, two or three.
A number of changes – included to make the car road legal in the US – have already been spied on prototypes, including a windscreen wiper, different wheels and tyres, tweaked headlights and tail-lights, larger side mirrors, and more.
While it may be legal for sale in the US, its size and shape make it unlikely to come to Australia – even though buyers here could, until earlier this year, place a $150 refundable deposit on a Cybertruck.
The post Tesla Cybertruck prices to rise for launch, due next year appeared first on Drive.