The Cybertruck puts Tesla in the hot seat

The Future. The Cybertruck is finally, exhaustingly here, with CEO Elon Musk stating that it’ll make “the future […] look like the future” — one that’s inspired by the vehicles found in Blade Runner and Halo. While that bold vision may have produced something unique, its dystopian inspirations could turn off the average driver. Whether Musk’s fanbase is large enough to make the truck profitable or not is literally the multi-billion-dollar question.

Crash course
The first ten Cybertrucks rolled off the lot in Austin, Texas, yesterday… putting the hyped truck and the company’s future on the road.

• The Cybertruck has been hit with years of delays (it turns out making a car with stainless steel is really hard), with Musk even lamenting to investors that the production has “dug our own grave.”
• But now the truck is here at a base model price of $61,000 ($21,000 more than originally promised). That may be a steep price for the over one million people who’ve reserved the truck since it was announced in 2019.
• And Tesla needs the Cybertruck to be a hit — design and production has been expensive, and the company’s operating expenses are up 43%.
• Complicating matters is Tesla won’t start mass-producing the Cybertruck until next year, and Musk has already stated that it’ll be a while before the truck is profitable… that is, as long as early adopters don’t have major issues that hurt its reputation.

That’s all risky business for a company (albeit, the most valuable automaker in the world) that hasn’t released a new passenger vehicle in over three years and has been cutting costs to ensure its lead in the transition race to EVs. Tesla may have gotten an early head start, but competitors are closing in… 

…especially as Musk’s antics with other companies turn potential customers against him.