Tesla Produces First Cybertruck At Texas Plant

Matthew Broersma,
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cybertruck, tesla

Tesla produces first Cybertruck at Texas Gigafactory four years after original announcement and two years after original production target

Tesla said it has produced the first Cybertruck at its plant near Austin, Texas, four years after the vehicle was announced in a glitch-ridden demonstration and two years after it was originally scheduled to start production.

The company published an image of the vehicle surrounded by staff at its Austin plant on its Twitter feed.

Chief executive Elon Musk showed off a prototype of the angular vehicle at a launch event in 2019 during which he broke its supposedly unbreakable windows with a heavy metal ball.

Production and delivery were originally scheduled for 2021, but the company pushed the date back citing supply chain issues.

Tesla's Cybertruck. Image credit: Tesla
Tesla’s Cybertruck. Image credit: Tesla/Twitter

Competition

In the meantime competing companies have ramped up their pickup truck plans, with Rivian’s R1T and Ford’s F-150 Lightning already on the roads and the Chevrolet Silverado EV Work Truck planned for initial deliveries this autumn.

In July 2022 Tesla said production would begin in summer 2023, and at its first-quarter 2023 earnings call the company said it would hold a Cybertruck delivery event toward the end of the third quarter.

At its 2023 annual shareholder meeting in May Musk said the firm could deliver 250,000 to 500,000 units per year after the start of mass production, which is scheduled for the end of this year.

As of November 2022 the vehicle had more than 1.5 million reservations held with a refundable $100 (£76) deposit, according to a report from Electrek.

Technical issues

Aside from the pandemic-era supply chain issues that have affected most automakers, Tesla has had to work out a number of technical issues with the vehicle, according to leaked documents.

Documents leaked to German newpaper Handelsblatt in January 2022 showed preproduction Cybertruck prototypes had serious braking, powertrain, suspension, sealing and structural issues.

Tesla is due to deliver its second-quarter 2023 financial results after the market close on Wednesday.