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$39,990 Tesla Cybertruck Not Happening

New evidence points to Tesla’s intention to not launch a more-affordable, single-motor, rear-wheel-drive variant of the Tesla Cybertruck, at least for the introductory 2024 model year.

The single-motor Tesla Cybertruck was originally announced as a lower-cost option priced at $39,990 back in 2019, but as with many affordable EV plans across the industry, it appears to have been dropped at least temporarily and perhaps permanently.

Side front three quarters view of the Tesla Cybertruck

Tesla Cybertruck

Now, Cybertruck Owner’s Club has ferreted out Tesla Cybertruck VIN decoder information indicating that the cheaper, single-motor pickup will not be included in the 2024 model year lineup. The eighth digit in the VINs for the year, which indicates motor, drive unit, and braking system, has letter codes only for “Dual Motor – Standard” and “Triple Motor – Performance” variants of the Cybertruck (D and E codes).

While unconfirmed, moderators of the forum page also drew attention to the two weight classes indicated by the 2024 VIN codes. The sixth digit of the VIN can be G, indicating a Class G truck weighing 8,001 to 9,000 pounds, or H for a Class H a truck weighing in at 9,001 to 10,000 pounds. Speculatively, these weight classes were associated with the dual-motor Standard and triple-motor Performance trims respectively.

Rear three quarters view of the Cybertruck.

Confirmation that the under-$40,000, single-motor Tesla Cybertruck is vaporware, at least for 2024, is unsurprising in light of known EV market dynamics. Elon Musk already strongly hinted the low-end Cybertruck would probably not see the light of day back in a 2022 interview. At that time, Musk said “specs and pricing will be different” for the truck on release and that he hated “to sort of give a little bit of bad news.”

GM followed a rather similar path of dropping initial promises for an affordable EV pickup with the Chevy Silverado EV. Initially it claimed a $39,900 Work Truck (WT) trim was in the works. However, The General later changed its position to say the cheapest available Chevy Silverado EV would cost somewhere in the $50,000 range, at least $10,000 more than the original price estimate.

The Silverado EV logo.

The pattern repeated with a third automaker when Ford announced a $39,974 base trim level for its Ford F-150 Lightning battery-electric pickup. Like the rest of the lineup, the base Lightning was to have the four-door Super Crew body configuration only with a 5.5-foot standard length bed. The next cheapest variant, the XLT, would start at $52,974.

In the event, the base Pro trim quickly saw its price climb to $55,974, while the XLT’s base MSRP rose to $63,474. The Pro’s price soon increased again, rising $4,000 at the end of March 2023 to reach $59,974. In July, Ford dropped the base price of the F-150 Lightning Pro to $49,995 as the automaker cut production and battery material costs, but the price remained well above the sub-$40,000 mark originally touted.

Front three quarters view of the Ford F-150 Lightning.

Tesla Cybertruck production is currently under way, having kicked off in July after several delays. The first trucks are expected to be delivered starting on  November 30th, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

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Comments

  1. Covid really messed up the economy. It probably delayed innovation by another 5-10 years. But with that said, Tesla’s first pickup truck was always going to be a novelty as they adjust and learn the business. I’m convinced EVs can be so much better than what they are today. Hopefully this will spur the auto companies to innovate before tech companies get involved.

    Reply
    1. Until they can get the price reasonable and make sure there’s plenty of charging stations there are more area with no charging stations, unless you stay in the big cities area!

      Reply
  2. I’m not sure I’d take that but ugly thing if you GAVE me 40 grand to take it. I guess as long as I could immediately sell it and buy something that looks normal and doesn’t have E. Musk written all over it.

    I’m clueless (insert jokes here) as to how anyone can “honestly” look at this thing and say yes, I want that.

    Reply
    1. Tesla’s ultimate ridiculous disaster. TURD

      Elon Musk and his TURD trucks, order yours today before they’re all gone.

      Reply
  3. I keep thinking that, when I see images of this monstrosity, that it is just a joke being played on the public. That no one in their right mind would truly spend millions of dollars developing a truck in this highly competitive field…..and have it really look like this. What kind of drugs do those guys smoke or choke on at Tesla? I bet Musk loses a minimum of $35-40K on each one that rolls out of the assembly plant. It looks like a giant cheese grater on wheels. Sadly, electric , too.

    Reply
    1. “It looks like a giant cheese grater on wheels.”

      Or a 1970’s Matchbox car a certain CEO would’ve played with as a kid.

      Should’ve been left a concept and never considered for actual production.

      Reply
  4. The CT will be expensive because people will pay to be first to own one. That being said I do expect the price to drop significantly in a few years.

    Reply
    1. I expect the price to drop to zero in the next 2 years. No one will buy these and they will no longer be manufactured.

      Reply
      1. You guys remember the bullies in middle school that were a foot taller, 100 lbs heavier, 3 reading levels behind, and observably balder than every other kid in school?…

        Thats what I imagine half the haters in this thread still look like. Except they are old now. Get off the internet and go back to yelling at the kids on your lawn.

        Reply
        1. So you actually think this thing is attractive?

          Reply
          1. I wish I was the only one. Unfortunately, my pre-order still puts about a million people in front of me.

            Reply
            1. Elon Musk subscribes to the same theory as PT Barnum, “there’s a sucker born every minute.”

              Reply
              1. $10 says this guy drives a suburu

                Reply
            2. Don’t worry about availability. This “thing” will be cool for about 10 minutes and watch the owners get laughed at everywhere they go.

              That waiting list will evaporate and my prediction is that this will be the biggest failure in the history of the auto industry.

              It was just revealed that only 37 semis have been delivered to date. Once again another venture which has been hyped to the extreme by Reverend Musk and is going nowhere…

              Reply
              1. This truck alone will outsell all of GM’s combined 2024 BEV sales by Q1. And in 2025 it will start eating into GM’s ICE truck sales. I would say GM’s foray into BEVs is a way bigger failure. There are over 2M reservations for the CT – even in half back out (30% is more likely), it will take 4 years running at max capacity to meet current demand. That alone would be greater than ALL of GM’s combined hybrid and BEV sales EVER (Volt, Bolt, Lyriq, etc.). Think about that – GM is currently sitting at just under 400k cumulative BEV sales since 2012 (1/2 of which are the Volt – not a true BEV, but we’ll count it since they spent billions developing it, only to lose money on every one sold). There is no way GM is remotely capable of building 600k Ultium platforms during this time even if people were willing to drop $60-100k apiece for them. You can hate on Elon/Tesla, but the numbers don’t lie. As far as the Semi, there are over 50 in operation for Pepsi – Tesla is expanding the Giga Nevada factory to automate production and building out the charging infrastructure. Tesla may deliver late, but at least they deliver. When is the Silverado EV coming?

                Reply
                1. mvb,
                  Teslarians like you usually pleasure themselves staring at pictures of prophet Musk. Does it bring you joy?

                  Reply
                  1. I’m simply stating verifiable facts – show me numbers that suggest otherwise.

                    Reply
                    1. Tesla is over 20 years into it and they have the lowest assembly quality of any OEM. GM has growing pains and they’ll figure it out and it won’t take 20 years.

                      Reply
                2. Wait until the neon shortage really takes hold. That’s about 18-36 months away. No neon, no semiconductors. Just wait. Putin controls the vast amount of it.

                  Reply
  5. LOL

    Reply
  6. If people thought Prius owners were getting harassed by the truck guys, just wait until this thing hits the road… Lol

    Reply
  7. This may not be the ugliest vehicle I’ve ever seen but it’s definitely in the top 1%. I’ll bet it has to sneak up to a charger just to get a drink.

    Reply
  8. aww the jealousy of tesla ios hilarious

    Reply
  9. If Tesla Model S/X is available only with AWD, then the bigger Cybertrk will also be only AWD.
    So dont expect $40K Cybertrk.

    BTW, this 10,000 lb is gross weight, if you exclude 3,500 lb, then the Cybertrk weight is just 6,500 lb.
    Anyway, lets wait for detailed specs to come.

    Reply
    1. Correct, that puts it’s curb weight` at least a ton lighter than the Silverado EV and even lighter than the Colorado sized R1T.

      Reply
  10. Wow, a Pontiac Aztek had an ugly bastard child.

    Reply
    1. But Pontiac Aztek did not have 2 million reservations. With a gas guzzling V6 engine, it ended in a trash bin with few years later, the whole Pontiac brand ending up there.

      Sharp angles of Cybertrk means superb aerodynamics which means higher range and fuel efficiency. Lets wait to see detailed specs.

      Reply
      1. Superb aerodynamics??? It has a drag coefficient of 0.39!! It’s a brick. The Chevrolet Silverado is 0.38 and it’s bad.

        Reply
        1. And knowing Musk, he probably fudged the numbers by putting bicycle tires on the CT for the test to reduce drag.

          Reply
          1. An important issue with EV’s is to make them as slippery as possible. Lower drag, higher range. It’s not a B117 stealth fighter Elon. It’s purpose isn’t to avoid radar, but be as efficient as possible, especially carrying around 9000lbs.

            Reply
  11. Wow. Another EV weighing in over 9000 lbs! I hope I never have a crash with one of those monsters. Maybe that’s the greenies’ endgame: wipe out all the remaining ICE vehicles by crashing these 5-ton battering rams into them.

    Reply
    1. Does no one on here even know what Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) is. The GVWR figure is the maximum weight a truck, SUV or crossover is engineered to safely carry. While this figure does not include the total weight of any trailer being towed, it does include the passengers, personal effects, and cargo carried, along with the weight (or the curb vehicle weight) of the truck itself and the tongue weight of the trailer. So, given that Tesla announced a 3500 lbs max payload, then one can do a little math to get a rough estimate of curb weight: 10,000 – 3,500 (tri-motor) and 9,000 – 3,500 (dual motor). Therefore, both variants will weigh between 1500 and 2500 lbs less than the 9,000 lb Silverado EV and the dual motor will weigh less than the Colorado sized Rivian R1T. So they weigh about the same as your average F-250 ICE truck.

      Reply
  12. EV’s will save the planet? Can you imagine the monstrous carbon footprint that’s created just to mine and process the materials over and above the average vehicle. It weighs approximately 9000 lbs. That’s about 3500 more than an average truck. It takes a lot of diesel fuel, electricity and whatever else is used to process that extra 3500 lbs of raw materials. They don’t talk about that much. The model X is 5200 lbs. A comparable Traverse is 4400. An extra 800 lbs of materials that had to come from somewhere.

    Reply
    1. The GVWR figure is the maximum weight a truck, SUV or crossover is engineered to safely carry. While this figure does not include the total weight of any trailer being towed, it does include the passengers, personal effects, and cargo carried, along with the weight (or the curb vehicle weight) of the truck itself and the tongue weight of the trailer. So, given that Tesla announced a 3500 lbs max payload, then one can do a little math to get a rough estimate of curb weight: 10,000 – 3,500 (tri-motor) and 9,000 – 3,500 (dual motor). Therefore, both variants will weigh between 1500 and 2500 lbs less than the 9,000 lb Silverado EV and the dual motor will weigh only ~500-600 lbs more than the Cadillac Lyriq AWD at 5915 lbs. So they weigh about the same as your average F-250 ICE truck.

      Reply
  13. Sorry not a big fan of it just would buy it how ever cheap it was. Not a big fan of any of the EV pick-up truck, maybe a nice little 50’s Chevy Apache EV with all the modern tech bits fitted could be tempted, but that sadly would desecrate an awesome design.

    Prefer a nice trusty affordable classic ICE Silverado or F-150 a proper truck, than unaffordable Tesla block of electric cheese.

    Reply

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