Tesla CEO Elon Musk took the stage to reveal details about the company’s new and unconventional Cybertruck pickup on Thursday in Austin, Texas, one day after he appeared in a bizarre interview at the DealBook Summit in New York. At that earlier event, Musk boasted, “It will be the biggest product launch of anything by far on Earth this year.”
In a dimly lit event space at the company’s headquarters, Elon Musk hyped up the fans in attendance saying, “What we have here is a better truck than a truck, while also being a better sports car than a sports car in the same package.”
Musk said the Cybertruck’s hard steel body was bulletproof, and that its windows were “rock proof.” He said it could tow over 11,000 pounds, accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 2.6 seconds and features a “super-tough” composite bed that is six feet long and four feet wide. He added that the vehicle would “change the look of the roads” and that the “future finally looks like the future.”
The Tesla CEO did not directly mention the pricing and battery range for the Cybertruck. Tesla’s website would reveal that the rear-wheel drive base model for the Cybertruck is now priced some 50% higher than the $40,000 the company originally aimed for before any tax breaks or other incentives.
He then presented several “production Cybertrucks” to beaming customers who drove away in them.
In an October earnings call, Musk struck a more cautious note saying, “There will be enormous challenges in reaching volume production with the Cybertruck, and then in making the Cybertruck cashflow positive.” He also said at that time, “we dug our own grave with Cybertruck,” pointing out “unique challenges” in producing and bringing that truck to market.
According to Tesla’s website, the company will sell its base model rear-wheel drive version of the Cybertruck for an estimated $60,990 and a “Cyberbeast” version for $99,990, with deliveries for both of these trims starting next year. Tesla also plans to sell an all-wheel…
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