In what could be one of the biggest news item of this of the year Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk announced that that production of the long-anticipated Cybertruck was halted. The reason? The ongoing development costs have over the budget originally set. The controversial-looking EV truck is no longer a viable business case. “Very sad to say we’ve made the tough decision to cancel our Cybertruck,” Musk said in a statement. “I know there will be plenty of disappointed customers and all pre-orders will be promptly refunded. The decision was made in the best interest of Tesla and its future.”
Although there is no public relations department, inside sources of the automaker from California are whispering that Musk has studied the numbers and decided that the under construction Gigafactory facility in Austin, Texas will be more suited to Model Y and Model 3 production.
Tesla Cybertruck
In the beginning, Austin was tasked with developing two models, Model Y and the Cybertruck. Cybertruck along with the Model Y, however demands for Model 3 continues to rapidly rise. In addition, the delay in the Cybertruck’s launch and issues behind the scenes could have led to an even higher price than the initial announcement.
The Cybertruck concept was first introduced back in the year 2019 Musk stated that the base price would be beginning at $39,900 for the model with rear-wheel drive. The all-wheel drive model would be priced at approximately $10k more. Costs of materials, generally in the auto sector, have increased in the past few years since the outbreak of coronavirus’s pandemic. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine isn’t helping the situation.
Tesla has recently raised the Model Y’s price (the most affordable Long Range starts at $62,990, which is a 20k more than that of the Standard Range) and now must move the Cybertruck’s development funds to prevent further price increases for its bread-and-butter vehicles.
Another reason we believe may be a factor in Tesla’s decision is the fact that traditional OEMs such as Ford as well as GM have already beaten it to the market for electric trucks. The F-150 Lightning’s affordable beginning cost is something Tesla cannot compete with. Tesla is also eager to join the delivery market by introducing vans into the market, a that analysts predict will grow at the end of the decade. The Tesla source later acknowledged that this article is complete nonsense.
