Nothing says failure in the automotive world quite like a special deal less than one year from a product launch. It has not even been twelve months since the Cybertruck’s second launch - the real one - yet Tesla is resorting to special deals in order to help move the Cybertruck off lots and into driveways.
The new Cybertuck lease deals are in effect now, and they end on December 31. Lease deals for the six-figure supertruck are priced under $1,000. “Hurry on in!” “Are you ready to buy today!?” You know the spiel. “Get ‘em before they're gone,” all that classic car dealer jazz. Maybe negotiate for free undercoating.
Cybertruck Falls Flat
The Tesla Cybertruck has been on the market now for just under 12 months. Deliveries began shortly after Tesla’s second launch event on November 30, 2023. Not the first launch in 2019, when Tesla broke the shatterproof glass during a weird minions-inspired dog and pony show, but the second one that heralded the start of deliveries.
Since then, Tesla has released multiple quarterly results on its financial page. None of them mentioned Cybertruck. Instead, the Cybertruck is lumped in with the brand's other two failed models, the S and X. If estimates by Tesla fans are to be believed, the Cybertruck makes up the bulk of the “Other” category of products, and S and X are all but dead and buried at this point.
Cybertruck Reservations Fizzled
Before the Cybertruck was released for sale, Tesla offered fans a reservation program. As always, many reservations were announced, giving Tesla fans hope that the weird six-figure dumpster-inspired marvel would be popular. However, multiple reports from outlets like Cybertruckownersclub.com and Electrek now surmise that only a tiny percentage of the folks who reserved the Cybertruck actually had the courage or finances to buy and drive one. Estimates of the cancellation rate of the Cybertruck's reservations are as high as 97.5%.
Cybertruck’s Disappointing Charging Profile
Among the nails in the Cybertruck’s coffin was a damning report by America’s most trusted EV charging expert, Tom Moloughney of State of Charge. Mr. Moloughney charged a “Foundation” series Cybertruck on a V3 Supercharger to see how long it would take. This is Tesla’s most modern equipment charging its most modern vehicle. The result? A charge time of well over one hour (86 minutes, to be exact). Mr. Moloughney named the truck “Cyberdud” in his content heading and summarized his analysis by saying:
- "The Cybertruck is not a great charging electric vehicle."
- “...it really is not anything special.”
- “I expected the Cybertruck to charge much better than this.”
- “Unfortunately, it really doesn’t charge that well.”
EV Trucks Are Low-Volume Failures
Like every battery-only pickup truck launched thus far, the Cybertruck has had disappointing delivery volumes and has not lived up to the hype. If you are looking for a great deal on a BEV truck and don’t mind the stigma of being seen in the truck, now is a great time to take advantage of desperation deals.
Related Story: Ford Pays Its Dealers Up To $22,500 To Move Out The Slow-Selling F-150 Lightning, It’s An Unprecedented Time For Truck Shoppers
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John Goreham is a credentialed New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work on our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ Grammarly grammar and punctuation software when proofreading.
Image of Cybertruck courtesy of Tesla, Inc.
Comments
Didn't the Cybertruck out…
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Didn't the Cybertruck out sell all other EV tricks combined? I'm not sure i follow the failure theme here unless this is just an opinion piece
Tell me you don't like…
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Tell me you don't like electric cars without telling me you don't like electric cars 🤣. Weird how you hate consumers having choices.
Typical internet blogger…
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Typical internet blogger that cherry picked the worst reviews from uneducated influencers and just completely false 'facts' 😂
The editor here is obviously…
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The editor here is obviously crying tears of pain over tesla with their middle school level of writing. Random cheap shots and nonsense about the model S and X being failures are just inaccurate. The Cybertruck in my opinion isn't worth it, however the next gen of them will probably be better
I have a New Model Y, 7…
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I have a New Model Y, 7 months, it's the best car decision I've ever made.
Self driving or cruise following, The way it handles, Speed when you need it, Changing stations everywhere, reliability.
Wish Elon Musk would only talk about innovation, but then he wouldn't be Elon.
I wonder how many people will name their baby Elon?
Did the writer sell tesla…
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Did the writer sell tesla short because someone who hates Tesla as much as he does should not be writing about them
It is easy to not want to…
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It is easy to not want to buy a 80k-120k truck. Get it down to 40k-60k and another group of reservation holders will buy. Kudos to Tesla for maximizing their profits and controlling their inventory.
Leasing is a good way to minimize risk of depreciation for those that want to drive the CT now when you expect the sales price to keep dropping.
I noticed your comments…
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I noticed your comments about how Tesla treats Cybertruck in their financial reports. My observation is that the reporting process relative to the section you are referring to is quite standardized/regulated as to what and how they can highlight. Something must be over a certain percentage of the financial results to be eligible to be listed. Thus because they have other products that meet that category they list those. Inferring that a new product is not a success because other products are great successes seems to be flawed logic.