Tesla has delayed production of its much-awaited Cybertruck, aiming to start in 2023, CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday, at a time when rivals are doubling down on efforts to capture the lucrative market.
The announcement comes as the electric vehicle maker reported record quarterly revenue and 2022 deliveries growing more than 50%, despite supply-chain issues.
Musk, who unveiled the futuristic vehicle in 2019, had already delayed its production from late 2021 until late 2022. Tesla will prepare to launch Cybertruck, Semi and Roadster as well as its humanoid robot next year, he said.
“We will not be introducing new vehicle models this year. It would not make any sense because we’ll still be parts constrained,” Musk said on a call with analysts. He said additional products “would then require a bunch of attention and resources on that increased complexity of the additional product, resulting in fewer vehicles actually being delivered this year.”
Musk said he hopes to produce a quarter of a million Cybertrucks annually but achieving this will take time because of a lot of new technology to be introduced. “Batteries will probably not be the limiting factor in Cybertruck production,” he said. “I worry more about like how do we make the Cybertruck affordable despite having awesome technology.”
Tesla, which began making electric vehicles with the premium sedan, Model S, and later introduced a more affordable car, the Model 3, has yet to launch in the highly profitable bakkie segment currently dominated by fuel-guzzling vehicles from US car makers. — Akash Sriram, with Peter Henderson, (c) 2022 Reuters
