It’s official, the first production Cybertruck has been produced.
After months of footage of testing prototypes, Tesla has now officially produced the first Cybertruck. The photo of the first Cybertruck, surrounded by the employees at GigaTexas was shared tonight by the official Tesla account.
Tesla had indicated the first customer deliveries would occur in Q3 of this year, the fact the first one has been produced is a good sign the production line is ready to go.
As with the Model 3 production ramp, this doesn’t mean it’ll be smooth sailing from here, but for the many hundreds of thousands who pre-ordered the Cybertruck, this is an exciting day.
Tesla’s Austin-based Gigafactory is expected to produce millions of Cybertruck, aiming for a manufacturing capacity of hundreds of thousands per year.
The Cybertruck was initially offered in Single, Dual and Tri-Motor configurations, but since then, there’s been plenty of noise around a quad-motor option. It’s not clear which of these versions will be delivered first.
The Tri-Motor AWD version was slated to offer a massive 500+ miles (804km) of range with an impressive 0-60 mph time in just 2.9 seconds. That range is unheard of in terms of a pickup truck and when you consider the vehicle is likely to be used to transport significant payloads and towing, additional range is important.
One of the biggest outstanding questions is the price, back in 2019 when the Cybertruck was unveiled, Tesla listed the starting price as US$39,900. Since then, inflation has run rampant and it is hard to see Tesla being in a position to honour this.
The other pricing element was the FSD price at the time, which was just US$7,000 a significant saving compared to today’s US$15,000 price tag. During this time, the software, particularly FSD Beta builds have become far more useful and customers will be hoping Tesla honours that price.
If you’re ordering a Cybertruck or any other Tesla vehicle, make sure you leverage a referral link to get some dollars off and a trial of either Enhanced Autopilot or FSD depending on the market you’re in.
In the years since the Cybertruck was announced, Tesla fans have had to make do with Cybertruck merchandise, the Cyberquad for kids, the remote-controlled Cybertruck and some were lucky enough to see it in person on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, or at a number of Tesla Shareholder events.
Those days appear to be coming to an end, with the Cybertruck getting awfully close to hitting the streets in the US. It is estimated there were somewhere close to 2 million pre-orders, which even at a manufacturing capacity of 500,000 units when fully ramped, would take a number of years to clear the backlog.
It is difficult to get much of a look at the vehicle, with so many employees crowded around it, but we can spot a few noteworthy items.
Firstly that giant windscreen wiper is there for all to see, extending the full length of the windscreen’s right side. The dash appears to extend quite far into the vehicle, a symptom of the dramatic angles of the car.
The front and rear windows are down and we can see the standard rubber surrounds, flanking the B pillar which houses the side camera.
In the bed of the vehicle, we see it is coated in a black finish, quite different from the stainless bed we saw during the first rides the day it was unveiled.
As expected, the Cybertruck production model features side mirrors, however, Elon Musk has said these will be easily removable by the customer, which is legal in some US states.
The distinct lack of handles on the doors is stark and we are still yet to see how this functions, we expect it to identify the driver and pop the door, similar to the experience in the Model X. There may also be a touch point for passengers which would check if the vehicle is unlocked by the driver’s phone being in proximity to the vehicle.
