Tesla’s long-awaited Cybertruck will not enter mass production until 2024, Elon Musk stated during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call earlier today.
During the session, Musk was asked if it would meet a mid-2023 production target set in Q2, 2022. Musk cagily confirmed that Cybertruck production would begin “sometime this summer,” but that mass production of the controversial pickup would not begin until next year.
Musk remarked:
I always try to downplay the start of production. It increases exponentially, but it is very slow at first.
The Cybertruck was first announced in 2019 to widespread interest, but its production has been repeatedly delayed. Pre-production was supposed to begin in late 2021 but was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was then scheduled for sometime in 2023, according to a projection made a year ago. Furthermore, Musk told investors last year that the Cybertruck will be more expensive and have different tech than originally planned.
As a consolation, Tesla announced on Wednesday that it has begun installing the production equipment for the assembly of the Cybertruck, including the castings that will produce the electric pickup’s body.
Industry experts warned that Tesla has to pick up the pace of Cybertruck’s production in order to compete in the growing market. Edmunds executive director of insights Jessica Cawell told The Verge that:
Cybertruck will be hitting an increasingly crowded sector of the EV market amid the F-150 Lightning, GMC Hummer EV, Rivian R1T, and likely the Chevy Silverado EV and RAM 1500 EV following closely behind. The downside for Tesla is that the Cybertruck almost seems like old news.
