History Repeats Itself, Tesla Has Not Been Able to Produce Cybertruck Until 2024

Elon Musk with the Cybertruck from Tesla. (photo: twitter @tesla)

JAKARTA - Tesla's long-awaited Cybertruck will not be in full production until 2024. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said this during the company's fourth quarter earnings announcement today.

When Musk was asked if the upcoming vehicle would meet its mid-2023 production target set in Q2 last year, he slyly confirmed that manufacturing of the Cybertruck would begin "in this summer." This concludes that mass production of the Polarizing pickup will not begin until next year.

"I always try to downplay the start of production," Musk said, as quoted by The Verge. "It increases exponentially, but very slowly at first."

The Cybertruck was originally announced in 2019 due to widespread interest, but production has been delayed several times. Pre-production was supposed to start in late 2021, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Then production is scheduled for around 2023, in a projection made a year ago. Additionally, last year Musk told investors the specifications and price of the Cybertruck "will be different" and will probably cost more.

As a consolation prize, Tesla revealed on Wednesday January 25 that it has started installing the necessary production equipment for assembling the Cybertruck, including the casting that will produce the body of the electric pickup. The Cybertruck is expected to be mostly manufactured at the company's Gigafactory in Austin, Texas.

Industry experts warn that deadlines need to be accelerated for Cybertruck to have the desired impact. “Cybertruck will enter an increasingly crowded sector of the EV market with the F-150 Lightning, GMC Hummer EV, Rivian R1T, and possibly the Chevy Silverado EV and RAM 1500 EV following close behind,” said Edmunds executive director of insights Jessica Cawell in an email to The Verge. . "Tesla's weakness is that the Cybertruck is now like (boring) old news."

The Cybertruck is still getting a lot of attention after its frenetic rollout that introduced an aggressive post-apocalyptic design. Maybe if Tesla threw more metal balls around, production could get rolling.