The Cybertruck is Mach-like, but can be Torqued: Musk on Investor Day in Austin, Tenn., March 1. Can the Cybertruck go 0 to 60 mph?
On Tesla’s March 1 Investor Day, Musk said demand for the Cybertruck was “so far off the hook, you can’t even see the hook.” But landing even 15 percent of the reservationists seems optimistic because the vehicle is running late and isn’t global—Cybertruck won’t be for sale outside of the US, Canada, and Mexico for some time, and doesn’t appear to meet safety regulations in the European Union and Australia anyway.
250 miles per charge is the minimum required for the base model of Cybertruck. Compare that to plug-powered competitors including the Rivian R1T (which gets 270 to 350 miles a charge) and the Ford F-150 Lightning (which gets between 230 and 320 miles), and that’s not as impressive as some were hoping.
The Cybertruck is powerful, though, as Musk emphasized during the Austin event, which included footage of the truck’s premium model outpacing a Porsche 911—while towing another Porsche 911.
The base model, which has a single-motor and is rear-wheel, will go from 0 to 60 in 6.5 seconds. The all-wheel drive middle model, available next year, can hit 60 mph in 4.1 seconds. The pick will have a top speed of 130 miles per hour, go 0 to 60 in 2.6 seconds, and tow 11,000 pounds, which is just about the same as the Rivian R1T.
Why the Hummer wasn’t sold in numbers: The Tesla, Stellantis, and Cybertruck of 2019. What did Musk do with the cybertruck?
In 2019, Tesla and Musk launched a thousand memes when the carmaker’s head of design, Franz von Holzhausen, tried to prove the strength of the Cybertruck’s windows by throwing a metal ball at it. The glass was broken. The company went easier on its truck today. Von Holzhausen went after the windows with a baseball. The truck was able to survive.
The price boost will be a drag on demand. The vehicles picked up by the 10 or so customers yesterday—likely to be “manufacturing unit” one-offs rather than true retail models, and which will be tethered to Tesla for some time—was $10,000 more expensive than the $39,900 base model promised in November 2019. The world has moved on since, with a slew of competitors selling traditionally-shaped product.
Ford jumped ahead of the competition with its F-150 Lightning, the battery-powered version of the truck that has dominated the pickup segment for decades. GM will soon roll out its $52,000 electric Chevy Silverado, and Stellantis is readying its $58,000 RAM 1500 REV. Rivian offers a $73,000 R1T which can be used as a look-at-me e-candy truck.
The annual unit sales of Toyota are equal to just 15 percent of the preorders. “But Tesla faces the challenges of scaling up production and achieving a sufficient flow of paying customers.”
With more than 1.5 million reservations from self-styled “reservationists,” the Blade Runner–inspired electric pickup could become the world’s most wealthy man. If half of the $100 deposits stack up, the revenue will be over $60 billion, up from what was promised four years ago.
Stupid. There’s a lot of meaning in it. Fugly. The Hummer should never have sold in numbers. Is Musk going to do a similar trick with the Cybertruck?
