Tesla Cybertruck ute production to start soon

Four years after it was first unveiled and following numerous delays, the 2023 Tesla Cybertruck will start rolling off the US car-maker’s production lines from the middle of this year.

On a call to investors announcing Tesla’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 earnings, Tesla boss Elon Musk said that its first all-electric pick-up truck would enter production from mid-2023, about six months later than previously claimed.

“We do expect production to start sometime this summer [Q3 2023], but I always kind of downplay the start of production because the start of production is always very slow,” he said.

Instead of the Cybertruck entering full-scale manufacturing, Musk was keen to downplay expectations for what is one of the most eagerly anticipated vehicles of all time, with more than a million deposits reportedly already taken – many in Australia.

“I wouldn’t put too much stock in the start of production,” he said, adding that volume production would kick off when output is ramped up in 2024.

We’ve seen a variety of spy pics , but it’s not yet been revealed how close the production version will be to the 2019 concept that featured seating for six, an enormous 17-inch infotainment screen and a yoke steering wheel.

The concept was also claimed to spring from 0-60mph (0-97km/h) in “as little as 2.9 seconds” and feature a driving range of up to 500 miles (805km).

Questions still hang over the Cybertruck on whether the wedge-shaped truck will comply to Australian Design Rules, and indeed whether it will be produced in right-hand drive, despite Tesla previously taking orders for the ute. (It stopped doing this in May last year.)

It also remains to be seen whether the Cybertruck will still be priced from just $US39,900 ($A56,000).

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