With Deliveries Incoming, How Will Tesla Price the Cybertruck?

It seems that Tesla Cybertruck production has been underway in recent weeks, as many onlookers have spotted them being transported on carrier trucks, parked around Gigafactory Austin and even inside trailers offering interior views. Despite this, many are still wondering how Tesla will price the Cybertruck, even as deliveries seem to be going out earlier than expected.

Above: A Tesla Cybertruck model (Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).

Tesla Cybertrucks have been spotted in a number of recent sightings, hinting that early production and initial deliveries may be underway despite a lack of pricing information, as reported recently by Forbes and electrek. The unique electric pickup was previously expected to begin first deliveries at a “presumed fall delivery event,” as Forbes points out, though several have recently spotted the Cybertruck in transit.

X (FKA Twitter) user Greggertruck shared a video over the weekend depicting a Cybertruck interior as the vehicle was parked inside a trailer that had been delivered to the user’s truck. Last week, fellow X user Branden Flasch shared photos of a pair of Cybertrucks being transported via a car carrier in Lonoke, Arkansas, which he says appeared to be a part of the company’s crash testing.

“2 Tesla Cybertrucks spotted in Lonoke, AR with one appearing to have been a part of crash testing based on window markings and front cover,” Flasch wrote on X.

In a conversation with Kelley Blue Book senior editor Matt Degen, Brooke Crothers of Forbes asked about the price of the Tesla Cybertruck. Degen responded, who noting that it will certainly be different from CEO Elon Musk’s original $39,900 price set forth in 2019.

Above: Elon Musk on CyberTruck: 'Demand is so far off the hook, you can't even see the hook' (Video: Yahoo Finance via YouTube).

“We currently estimate it will start at around $50,000,” Degen wrote via email. “That would put it right in line with the mass-market Ford F-150 Lightning (which starts at $49,995).”

The pricing change hasn’t come as a shock to most industry analysts, despite Tesla’s many price cuts across its lineup throughout 2023. Alongside the prediction for a $50,000 sticker price, Degen notes Tesla’s dynamic pricing model over the year, as well as the Cybertruck’s potential for federal incentives.

“I’m not surprised by the price change,” Degen added. ”Keep in mind, the same thing happened with the Lightning, to a point. When sales started it was also marketed at $40,000. And some early models may have sold around that price. But then the base price quickly increased. Then, this past summer, it decreased to what it is now.”

“The price of the forthcoming Cybertruck is a moving target,” Degen says. Some even think that Tesla could lower the Cybertruck’s price over its lifespan, potentially even hitting the $39,900 mark someday.

Crucially, some have also pointed out that the Cybertruck will be built at its nearly-new facility in Austin, Texas. The vehicle will also be the company's first new-vehicle launch in several years.

“Musk is correct in pointing out that this is an all-new model being built at a new factory,” Degen added.

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Sources: Forbes / electrek / X / X / Yahoo Finance (via YouTube)