Tesla Cybertruck pricing and specs to change
Elon Musk confirms inflation and other issues will change the Cybertruck’s asking price ahead of next year’s production startElon Musk has confirmed “the specs and the pricing” of the final production version of the Tesla Cybertruck “will be different” to what was advertised back at its 2019 reveal.
The Tesla CEO cited rapid inflation and various other production issues inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic as the primary reasons.
Speaking to investors at this year’s stockholders’ meeting, Musk said a lot had changed since the Cybertruck’s debut and there was no way anyone could’ve expected the “inflation that we’ve seen and the various issues”.
“But what I can say is that the Cybertruck will be one hell of a product,” he said.
“It’s going to be a damn fine machine and we’re tracking to be in production in the middle of next year from this factory [Giga Texas].”
Musk went on to confirm that installation of all the required production equipment and tooling would start in the next couple of months in preparation for the Cybertruck’s long-awaited production start.
Exactly how the electric behemoth’s specs and pricing will differ is still a mystery, but the safe money (pun intended) is on it being more expensive than first announced – $US39,900 ($A57,212) – and possibly without certain features and/or vehicle functions.
What those features and/or functions will entail and how they might differ also remains to be seen because we’ve never actually been presented with a spec sheet or seen a production-ready example, although Musk has long-promised adaptive dampers and adjustable air suspension.
It’s also unclear if the vehicle will make it to Australian shores after the order tab was quietly removed from the landing page on the Tesla Australia website last year, although the page still quotes a 0-60mph (0-97km/h) acceleration time of “as little as 2.9 seconds” and a driving range of up to 500 miles (805km).
Even if Tesla does five the Cybertruck the green light for our market, the outlandish-looking Cybertruck will still need to comply with the government’s strict Australian Design Rules.
Related: Tesla Cybertruck orders halted in Australia
Related: Tesla Cybertruck shown in near-production guise
Related: SPY PICS: Tesla Cybertruck caught testing again
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