√Tesla Cybertruck on track for mid 2023, but production ramp-up delayed to 2024

The first Tesla Cybertruck electric pick-ups are still due to be built in mid 2023 – but CEO Elon Musk says production is now not due to ramp up until 2024.

Production of the long-awaited Tesla Cybertruck is on track to start in the middle of 2023 – but the electric-car giant’s CEO, Elon Musk, says it will not ramp up until 2024.

In November 2022, news agency Reuters reported through Tesla sources that “mass production” of the Cybertruck in large numbers would not begin until late 2023, after the first cars are built in mid 2023.

In a teleconference with media and investors this week, Mr Musk said Tesla Cybertruck production is still due to begin in the middle of 2023 – in the North American summer, between June and August – but said a full-scale roll-out has been pushed back to 2024.

These dates are 18 months to two years later than the late-2021 launch timing announced at the Cybertruck concept’s reveal in late 2019 – prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We do expect (Cybertruck) production to start maybe sometime this summer. But I always try to downplay the start of production, because the start of production is always very slow,” Mr Musk told Tesla investors and media.

“It increases exponentially but it’s always very slow at first, so I wouldn’t put too much stock in the start of production. [What is important is] … when volume production actually happens, and that’s next year.”

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The six-month production ramp-up is consistent with other Tesla models, which have initially rolled out of factory doors in small numbers and few model grades, before expanding the model range and increasing production output later on.

In late November 2022, a North American report claimed the Tesla Cybertruck has received an estimated 1.6 million pre-orders since late 2019, with the figure continuing to climb almost a year before the first production example is due to roll off the production line.

In the US, Tesla allows customers to place a $US100 ($AU148) refundable deposit on the Cybertruck – which would amount to more than $US160 million ($AU236 million) for the company.

Tesla buyers in Australia were offered the ability to put down a deposit for $150 from the time order books opened in 2019, until May 2022.

It’s understood about 15,000 Australians placed a pre-order for the electric pick-up before the order button was removed from the company’s local website in May 2022.

It’s worth noting those who have placed a deposit on the Cybertruck can back out of the deal and get their money back at any time, so it remains to be seen how many pre-order holders proceed to order a vehicle and place delivery.

As reported earlier this week, Tesla delivered 1.31 million electric cars to customers globally in 2022, and Mr Musk claims it could deliver up to two million electric cars in 2023.

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