As cited by a Morgan Stanley analyst who is generally bullish on Tesla, Tesla’s Cybertruck will have limited appeal and will most likely be an enthusiast or cult car, rather than serious competition for the. Ford F-150 and other legacy trucks,
“We regularly talk to customers who think Tesla can sell hundreds of thousands of Cybertrucks a year,” analyst Adam Jonas said after visiting Tesla’s Texas factory, where the truck will go into production later this year.
“We think it’s more likely a cult or enthusiast car with much more limited volume,” closer to 50,000 units per year, Jonas wrote in a research note. There should be some design and manufacturing learnings from the Cybertruck that could make it Tesla’s flagship vehicles, he added.
The assessment comes after Jonas attended Tesla’s Investor Day on March 1 at the Austin plant, where the Cybertruck was on display. Jonas rates Tesla shares a buy with a $220 per share price target compared to Thursday’s closing price of $172.92.
While the Cybertruck was a source of excitement when Musk first introduced it in 2019, Tesla has bigger ambitions now.
“The truck is real and we had a great time behind the Austin plant,” Jonas said. “But financially it may be more of a sideshow to the Tesla story today.”
Since the introduction of the Cybertruck, electric vehicle maker Rivian has released its R1T truck in late 2021 and Ford began selling its electric F-150 Lightning last year. Chevrolet is scheduled to launch its Silverado EV later this year, and Ram plans to join the segment in 2024.
Other auto industry analysts also see Tesla’s wildly designed truck as a niche product. And Musk hasn’t made clear his starting price, which was originally promised at $40,000. Musk has since said the price will be higher, but not by how much.
“We believe that Cybertruck has more value in a cultural/zeitgeist sense than in a direct economic sense,” Jonas said. How many Cybertrucks can make it to a parent-teacher conference or youth soccer game at the same time before losing some of that indescribable something?”
With an unpainted stainless steel exterior and a steeply raked roof, the Cybertruck does not pose a significant threat to the established pickup truck market, Jonas said.
However, it could eat into the enthusiast truck market where vehicles like the Ford F-150 Raptor compete, he said. The Raptor starts at $78,670, and that’s where the Cybertruck can compete.
Production
Volume production of the Cybertruck would not occur until 2024, but the company was installing the necessary equipment, including the world’s largest press, to build the truck that reportedly has more than 200,000 reservations.
The Cybertruck line will be entering Gigafactory Texas, just outside of Austin.
Prices that no longer son
The original plan was to introduce a single-engine version of the Cybertruck for $39,900, with a more dynamic twin-engine model for $49,900.
As announced by Tesla nearly three years ago, the high-performance, three-engine Cybertruck would start at $69,900. However, with the cost of materials rising, so does the price of the Cybertruck, though how much has yet to be revealed.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, acknowledged that a lot has changed since the Cybertruck was first introduced, so the specs and prices will be different. Nonetheless, he added, it’s still going to be a very good machine.
Source: Auto News