The Dream of a Sub-$40,000 Tesla Cybertruck Is Dead
During the Tesla annual meeting of stockholders(Opens in a new window) held yesterday, Elon Musk confirmed that the Cybertruck will no longer carry a base price of $39,900.
As part of the meeting held in front of a live audience, Musk answered a number of questions posed by shareholders(Opens in a new window). One of those asked if the original Cybertruck pricing would be "grandfathered" for those who already placed an order.
Musk confirmed it would not, while reminding everyone a reservation only cost $99 back in 2019. He then went on to say, "It was unveiled in 2019 ... a lot has changed since then, so the specs and the pricing will be different. I hate to give a little bit of bad news, but I think there's no way to have anticipated quite the inflation we have seen and various issues."
For reference, when the Cybertruck was first unveiled three years ago, it cost $39,900 for the single motor model, $49,900 for the dual motor model, and $69,900 for the the tri-motor model. Adding the self-driving option was going to increase the price by $7,000.
Few will be surprised to hear that pricing will be higher, especially when you consider all that has happened since 2019 combined with the fact we aren't expecting the Cybertruck to be manufactured until at least 2023 now.
The second part of the question asked when pricing would be released, which Musk did not answer. There's no way he could with any confidence at the moment based on inflation, ongoing supply chain and gigafactory problems, and the production time line still being up in the air.
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