Tesla is planning to disclose information about its one-of-a-kind Cybertruck -- a sharp, unpainted stainless steel pick-up truck -- such as pricing and features at a gathering in Austin on Thursday. Elon Musk initially advertised the Cybertruck at a "unveiling" event in 2019, expressing frustrations about the "unique complexities" of manufacturing and selling the futuristic-looking vehicle. Other car companies including Ford, General Motors, and Rivian have already begun producing and selling electric pickups before the Cybertruck was originally introduced, thus beating Tesla to the market.
Tesla is set to provide details on its new Cybertruck pickup Thursday, one day after CEO Elon Musk was featured in a peculiar interview at the DealBook summit in New York, where he boasted, "It will be the greatest product launch of anything on Earth this year." The event, to be held in Austin at 2 pm local time (3pm ET), will be streamed online and signify the company's first deliveries of the Cybertruck to customers.During an October earnings call, Musk was more guarded, saying, "Reaching volume production with the Cybertruck and then making it cashflow positive will bring tremendous challenges." He also mentioned, "we dug our own grave with Cybertruck," pointing out "unique challenges" in manufacturing and selling that truck.Tesla unveiled the angular, unpainted, hard steel body of the Cybertruck back in November 2019. It had previously claimed production would start in 2021, and the truck would retail from $39,900 for a rear-wheel-drive version to $69,000 for a top-spec, tri-motor edition.The company allowed for $100 refundable "reservations" for Cybertruck, and the company said it received more than 1 million reservations since its debut.Factors like the covid pandemic caused a two-year delay, which led to early Cybertruck production beginning in July this year.Meanwhile, rivals such as Ford, General Motors and Rivian already started selling their more traditional electric pickups. Earlier this week, Rivian, who only manufactures battery electric vehicles (like Tesla) began offering a leasing option for select models of its R1T electric pick-up.The U.S. electric pick-up market has not flourished as expected when the Cybertruck was first unveiled. Various start-ups have had little success in either bringing vehicles to the market or making them popular, like Lordstown Motors. Both GM and Ford have announced plans to suspend, postpone or cancel their EV products and investments, including some related to EV trucks.--Mike Wayland contributed to this report.
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