Nearly two years after Tesla had originally planned to begin production on its long-awaited Cybertruck, the first electric pickup has rolled off the assembly line.
On Saturday the company had tweeted a photo of the first vehicle produced, surrounded by workers in helmets and yellow vests.
The tweet said, “First Cybertruck built at Giga Texas!,” with a cowboy-hat-wearing emoji. Elon Musk retweeted the tweet to his followers.
The truck was originally unveiled by Musk in 2019, and the company had said it expected production to start in late 2021, later amending that forecast to caution that production would start slowly and the truck would be produced in smaller numbers than other Tesla automobiles.
Some analysts have panned the vehicle as a niche product which will only sell in small numbers, noting that its wedged-shaped exterior, which Tesla has called the exoskeleton, looks and functions nothing like a conventional pickup, which is designed to carry cargo in a large, open bed.
In April, Musk said Tesla was expecting to deliver the first truck in the July-September quarter. He noted, production would start slowly before accelerating, as the company has done with its other new products.
He said, “It takes time to get the manufacturing line going, and this is really a very radical product. It’s not made in the way that other cars are made. So let’s see.”
In 2019, when Musk first unveiled the Cybertruck, the demo went sideways when the windows, which musk had promised would be unbreakable, shattered when struck by a metal ball. They had previously withstood such testing with ease. Observers pointed out an earlier demonstration at its public debut, when the Cybertruck’s door was being struck by a sledgehammer, caused the windows to drop slightly, removing part of their support at the top. Nevertheless, Musk uttered an expletive in response.
The company had originally said there would be three versions of the Cybertruck which would range in price from roughly $40,000 to $70,000. The company since removed all projected pricing from the page on its website where customers could pay $100 and reserve a vehicle for themselves, leading analysts to speculate prices have risen.
Since Musk announced the Cybertruck, the company’s competitors have rushed their own electric pickups onto the market, such as the Ford F-150 Lighting, and Rivian Automotive’s R1T, both of which feature a conventional pickup truck body.
Second-quarter financial results are due from Tesla on July 19th.