Demand for the Tesla Cybertruck may not be as robust as it once appeared.
A couple of recent moves by the EV maker suggest that the days of waiting months if not longer for the hyped pickup have come to an end, according to Eletrek. In the last couple of weeks, buying the EV appears to have gotten a lot easier—as long as you have a spare $100,000 lying around.
As tends to happen went Elon Musk is involved, Tesla has taken nearly every opportunity to talk up demand for the Cybertruck. At one point, the company claimed it had even received over 1 million reservations for the truck, which meant it had demand secured for four years. Now, less than a year after production of the pickup began, that no longer appears to be the case.
Last week, Tesla began inviting reservation holders who’d just reserved their Cybertruck to put in their order for the EV, according to the website. Up until this point, reservation holders had waited months, and in some cases years, for the opportunity to actually buy the pickup. Now, just one week later, Tesla appears to have closed down the reservation process for the model, opening up orders to anyone in the U.S. (Canadian reservation holders can now place their orders as well). Now, if you have the money to complete the purchase, you’ll have your brand-new Cybertruck within roughly a month.
Tesla can be a little opaque about sales numbers, but it is estimated to have delivered around 25,000 Cybertrucks since the first series-production example rolled off the line last November. This suggests that the company was able to convert around 2.5 percent of the million Cybertruck reservations it claims to have received into actual sales, although, as Electrek points out, the number could be closer to five percent depending on how many reservations were placed outside of the U.S. While this number is low, it’s not really surprising since all it took to reserve the EV was a fully refundable $100 deposit.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Robb Report.
One barrier to buying a Cybertruck may have been eased, but another has been erected in its place. The company has upped the price for the EV in the U.S. The company no longer offers the rear-wheel Cybertruck, which was previously available for $60,990, on its website, according to CarScoops. Now, the least expensive model you can buy is the all-wheel-drive version which starts at $99,990. That itself is $20,000 more than that specific Cybertruck cost before. The range-topping Cyberbeast, meanwhile, is available for $119,990, which is also $20,000 more than it used to cost.
