You may already be familiar with “tactical” registrations, widely used by manufacturers worldwide to inflate sales figures, especially during periods of low demand. For Elon Musk, a tactical registration also means a car sold by one of his companies… to another of his companies. This principle of redistribution is particularly useful in these lean times for the Tesla Cybertruck, which is plummeting to alarming levels in the United States, a country that is backtracking on electric vehicles under the influence of a highly volatile Donald Trump.
Is the Tesla Cybertruck too expensive?
While the beginning of his presidency was marked by a romance with Elon Musk and Tesla, it didn’t last: Ford, GM, and others are now ramping up production of their V8 engines, believing that demand for electric pickup trucks simply isn’t there. And the Trump administration’s policies aren’t helping either, especially since the end of purchase incentives. Now, the Cybertruck is evolving by trial and error, and the meagre boost from SpaceX purchases probably won’t change the situation.
It must be said that Tesla hasn’t exactly helped matters. The manufacturer quickly discontinued the rear-wheel-drive version, which was the most affordable. Today, only two models remain: the AWD ($79,990) and the Cyberbeast ($114,990). Tesla tried to position itself as a “lifestyle” vehicle to make the price more palatable, but customers aren’t buying it. For comparison, a Chevrolet Silverado double cab V8 6.6 four-wheel drive sells for $50,000. The argument of lower running costs for electric vehicles doesn’t hold water, given the massive price difference, which makes it nearly impossible to recoup the cost of a Cybertruck compared to a gasoline-powered model.
Tesla Cybertrucks for SpaceX
SpaceX has decided to electrify its fleet and replace its gasoline-powered pickup trucks and lorries with Tesla electric models. Semi for the trucks, Cybertruck for the pickups. This is a welcome boost after Cybertruck sales plummeted by more than 60% in the third quarter, following the end of government incentives for electric vehicles. According to Eletrek, SpaceX has ordered 1,000 Cybertrucks from Tesla, with another 1,000 planned. A recent video showed the Starbase site parking lot with a large number of Cybertrucks already lined up.
This won’t save the Cybertruck. At launch, Elon Musk claimed that one million orders had been placed for his pickup truck, but to date, two years after its release, only 57,000 units have been registered. A drop in the ocean in a pickup truck market that sees millions of units sold annually in the United States.
