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Blog Musk Says Cybertruck Updates Coming Soon

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Tesla plans to reveal an updated design for the Cybertruck in “a month or so,” Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Twitter.

Tesla has been giving consideration to the Cybertruck’s hulking proportions, which could prevent the wildly-styled, bulletproof, pickup from fitting into the average suburban garage.

So, there’s a chance the truck could shrink slightly all around. Or, maybe not. Musk seems reluctant to change much, but says the new design is better, featuring many minor tweaks.

“Even the small details matter,” Musk tweeted.






Tesla has more than half a million reservations for the truck, so it will be interesting to hear reactions from consumers who have already shown intent to purchase the Cybertruck.

Tesla plans to build the vehicle at a new factory in Texas, which is currently under construction. The first examples of the the production Cybertruck are expected to roll off the line late next year.

 
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What do these points have to do with whether Rivian will succeed?

Tesla was very different from the start. They had Design, Engineering, and Business and everyone in the company was onboard with it all.
Because Rivian has all of those things as well. Heck, their Business side is WAY batter than Tesla's in the early days. All Tesla had was Elon. At any point he could have found something else shiny to spend his money on and Tesla would have been dead. Rivian has backing from multiple sources and a solid business plan. They have taken their time on the Engineering. The truck works. We have seen them out driving around. On the design front, some don't like the styling (including me), but plenty of people hated the MS interior when it came out and still complain about Tesla interiors in general. I think the M3 looks like a catfish. Sheet metal/styling/design is the easiest thing for a car company to change. New stamping dies and the vehicle looks different. If Rivian finds that people don't like the styling, that won't sink the company.
 
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Their 2000 era vehicle prices will sink them. When Tesla came out, there was no competition. Now you have a truck coming out that is way more expensive than a Tesla Cybertruck. I love the looks of the Cybertruck and I hate the looks of the Rivian. I love the Tesla supercharger network...

Fail, Fail, Fail

Brent
 
Their 2000 era vehicle prices will sink them. When Tesla came out, there was no competition. Now you have a truck coming out that is way more expensive than a Tesla Cybertruck. I love the looks of the Cybertruck and I hate the looks of the Rivian. I love the Tesla supercharger network...

Fail, Fail, Fail

Brent
You are making a massive assumption that the CT price that was given at the launch will be the actual price. You may not have noticed this, but the direction of Tesla prices has not been down. With commodity prices going up everywhere, I place the odds of Tesla selling CTs at the launch prices at 0. So if Rivian can hold to their pricing (unknown how much cushion they have in their pricing), the gap will not be as large as you think. Not to mention, Rivian will likely beat the CT to market by a good bit. As shown by the Hummer pre-orders, people will pay a premium to get something sooner.
 
You are making a massive assumption that the CT price that was given at the launch will be the actual price. You may not have noticed this, but the direction of Tesla prices has not been down. With commodity prices going up everywhere, I place the odds of Tesla selling CTs at the launch prices at 0. So if Rivian can hold to their pricing (unknown how much cushion they have in their pricing), the gap will not be as large as you think. Not to mention, Rivian will likely beat the CT to market by a good bit. As shown by the Hummer pre-orders, people will pay a premium to get something sooner.
I think they will freeze the cost of AP for those that reserved and execute their order in a timely fashion (at least that is what was promised). If the chip shortage gets resolved before the widespread launch of the CT (which is probably a 50/50 proposition right now, the overall cost of the CT may not go up too much. Keep in mind, the cost to build the CT shouldn't be outrageous as Tesla isn't going to have to bend any of the panels on the exoskeleton and if they get multiple gigapress units to do both the front and back underbody, the amount of assembly will also be reduced. Sandy Monro's videos about the CT is well worth the watch, FWIW.
 
I think they will freeze the cost of AP for those that reserved and execute their order in a timely fashion (at least that is what was promised). If the chip shortage gets resolved before the widespread launch of the CT (which is probably a 50/50 proposition right now, the overall cost of the CT may not go up too much. Keep in mind, the cost to build the CT shouldn't be outrageous as Tesla isn't going to have to bend any of the panels on the exoskeleton and if they get multiple gigapress units to do both the front and back underbody, the amount of assembly will also be reduced. Sandy Monro's videos about the CT is well worth the watch, FWIW.
I think you have been watching to many media events.
 
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Tesla has sold well over a million vehicles and every single reservation holder has paid their reservation price. I reserved a CT the day after the reveal and know the price I'll be paying. Prices will fluctuate and some people gamble by waiting. Model S Plaid increased by $10k the day of first deliveries.

Ford and other OEM dealers have a thing called Additional Dealer Markup (ADM). Some Ford dealers wanted tens of thousands more for the Mustangs they were selling. You'll never encounter an ADM when purchasing a Tesla.

I guess we will find out (at some point), right?
 
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Tesla has sold well over a million vehicles and every single reservation holder has paid their reservation price. I reserved a CT the day after the reveal and know the price I'll be paying. Prices will fluctuate and some people gamble by waiting. Model S Plaid increased by $10k the day of first deliveries.

Ford and other OEM dealers have a thing called Additional Dealer Markup (ADM). Some Ford dealers wanted tens of thousands more for the Mustangs they were selling. You'll never encounter an ADM when purchasing a Tesla.
correct. Tesla Won’t add dealer costs. But nothing is guaranteed
 
Tesla has sold well over a million vehicles and every single reservation holder has paid their reservation price. I reserved a CT the day after the reveal and know the price I'll be paying. Prices will fluctuate and some people gamble by waiting. Model S Plaid increased by $10k the day of first deliveries.

Ford and other OEM dealers have a thing called Additional Dealer Markup (ADM). Some Ford dealers wanted tens of thousands more for the Mustangs they were selling. You'll never encounter an ADM when purchasing a Tesla.

I know what price I'll be paying....... $1k below invoice.
 
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Tesla has sold well over a million vehicles and every single reservation holder has paid their reservation price. I reserved a CT the day after the reveal and know the price I'll be paying. Prices will fluctuate and some people gamble by waiting. Model S Plaid increased by $10k the day of first deliverie

Does your Tesla US account show the purchase price? When I look at my account I see my reservation for a CT in Canada and my reservation for a CT in Mexico, but no prices shown.

If I recall correctly, when I bought my TM3 the initial deposit was to make a reservation but the price was not locked in until I placed the order. I don’t think anyone can actually place an order for CT yet, can we?
 
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Because Rivian has all of those things as well. Heck, their Business side is WAY batter than Tesla's in the early days. All Tesla had was Elon. At any point he could have found something else shiny to spend his money on and Tesla would have been dead. Rivian has backing from multiple sources and a solid business plan. They have taken their time on the Engineering. The truck works. We have seen them out driving around. On the design front, some don't like the styling (including me), but plenty of people hated the MS interior when it came out and still complain about Tesla interiors in general. I think the M3 looks like a catfish. Sheet metal/styling/design is the easiest thing for a car company to change. New stamping dies and the vehicle looks different. If Rivian finds that people don't like the styling, that won't sink the company.
Just a thought-from someone who’s worked in automotive design and production-changing ‘stamping’ or making design changes can be and enormous part of the overall project cost. To change the hatch opening to a clamshell design and to move a bulkhead on the Lincoln MKC vs the Escape program it was based on was $300 million for example.
 
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Tesla has sold well over a million vehicles and every single reservation holder has paid their reservation price. I reserved a CT the day after the reveal and know the price I'll be paying. Prices will fluctuate and some people gamble by waiting. Model S Plaid increased by $10k the day of first deliveries.
Yes, but the world has changed. We are coming off of 40 years of deflation. This means that for the last 40 years you could count on the prices of things going down in the future so it was safe to quote prices and hold to them into the future. The trend is turning. Suppliers up and down the chain are shortening the valid times for quotes and subsequent quotes are higher. Prices for all components are going up. Base metals, chips, battery materials, etc.

There is plenty of debate on whether this current blast of inflation is transitory or not - I have read well-reasoned arguments on both sides. But at the end of the day, just because Tesla hasn't used the "prices subject to change" language in their reservation agreements doesn't mean they won't (or have to).
Just a thought-from someone who’s worked in automotive design and production-changing ‘stamping’ or making design changes can be and enormous part of the overall project cost. To change the hatch opening to a clamshell design and to move a bulkhead on the Lincoln MKC vs the Escape program it was based on was $300 million for example.
Thank you for the insight. I would view a bulkhead as a major and/or structural piece as it would affect crash testing and such. I was thinking more along the lines of changing the grill to something less ugly. Purely cosmetic - just new molds for the plastic injection machine.
 
Thank you for the insight. I would view a bulkhead as a major and/or structural piece as it would affect crash testing and such. I was thinking more along the lines of changing the grill to something less ugly. Purely cosmetic - just new molds for the plastic injection machine.

Of course! I’ve been out industry for a few years now, but enjoy automotive discussion. Your OP mentioned ‘sheet metal’ changes which now with this quote your thinking about keeping the ‘hard points’ (suspension, door shapes, glass opening etc) and charging more than the front clip (i.e. sheet metal) to retool and redesign (aerodynamics testing, crash testing/certification retooling is enormously expensive-even on a ‘reskin’ of products that’s $400-$600 million) might be a tough path to sell to a executive suite when the product is one if the top selling ones in its class.

For perspective, during my time we were shown data that indicated that ‘challenger brands’ Audi (who is a new member) MB/BMW would have a tough time entering established markets. So if your anyone else, your 3 series competitor will have a tough time gaining sales momentum. Lexus. Infiniti. Cadillac. Alfa Romeo. Lincoln. And until the big SUV arrived, Genesis.

So what Tesla is doing from a sales perspective is remarkable in context. I chuckled when I saw the CT-I knew exactly what they were doing when they designed it to look that way. It’s a far more niche product, but it reminded me of when Lamborghini decided to go in a similar direction with the Countach back when ‘Ferrari’ was the answer to the question ‘sports car?’