Elon Musk Says Tesla May Finish Cybertruck Development This Year

He also shared that the goal is to start production of the electric pickup truck in 2023.

By: Steven Loveday

Mar 23, 2022 at 9:18am ET

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk referenced the Cybertruck during the recent Q4 and Full Year Earnings Conference Call. After working to excite fans and owners ahead of the call, with comments about a future product roadmap reveal, Musk basically made it clear that the Cybertruck was still a long way off, noting that 2023 was just a hopeful goal.

With the Rivian R1T and GMC Hummer EV already on sale, and Ford F-150 Lightning deliveries right around the corner, this didn't sit well with Tesla fans. Some folks have been waiting years for the truck, which had already been delayed at least one time prior.

Musk basically explained that Tesla can't succeed if it keeps working on future products, which would cause it to fall further behind on satisfying the massive and growing demand for its current vehicles. He reiterated these concerns during a recent speech to factory workers at the grand opening of Tesla's brand-new Gigafactory in Germany.

However, Musk also cleared up the Cybertruck targets. He was clearly in a very good mood at the opening, dancing around the stage, providing a ton of autographs, and just being silly in usual Musk fashion. The CEO arguably owed it to fans and owners to shed some light on the Cybertruck situation since the future product roadmap was never really discussed on the earnings call, aside from some Tesla Bot talk.

According to Musk, Tesla plans to finish Cybertruck development in 2022 and begin production in 2023. The comment didn't seem as vague as his previous words that the electric truck would “hopefully come next year.” Musk said:

“We want to complete the development of Cybertruck this year and be ready for production next year.”

Keep in mind, Tesla first revealed the Cybertruck in 2019 with a goal to launch it before the end of 2021. Later, it delayed the truck to 2022. Depending on how you look at it, and how timing actually works out in reality, finishing production in late 2022 with production and deliveries starting in 2023 is not really much of a delay from Tesla's confirmation that the truck was delayed to 2022 in the first place.

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That said, four years is a long time to wait for any vehicle. However, there's no doubt Tesla is in a pickle with regard to ridiculous demand it can't yet possibly meet. It's a good problem to have, but at some point, something's got to give.

What's your take? Will the Cybertruck come in early 2023? Late 2023? 2024? Not at all? More importantly, if it does come in 2023, how much longer will some people on the massive reservation list have to wait before actually taking delivery? Let's start a conversation and get a consensus in the comment section below. Then, in a year or so we can look back and see who was correct.

Source: Electrek