Tesla Cybertruck 10-unit delivery event limit raises questions about production quality and claimed output

As the November 30 Tesla Cybertruck Delivery Event draws ever closer, information about the upcoming electric pickup truck continues to trickle into the news stream. There has been a lot of speculation about what the early production stages of the Cybertruck would look like after a recent Tesla investor call wherein the CEO, Elon Musk, mentioned that there would be "enormous challenges" relating to production and profitability.

Tesla's product design director, Javier Verdura, speaking at a conference in Monterrey (via Grupo Milenio), revealed that only ten Cybertrucks would be delivered at the launch event.

While this news is undoubtedly negative for hopeful reservation holders, it has some more serious implications for the Cybertruck as a whole.

When Tesla held its delivery event for the Model 3 back in 2017, the company delivered 30 units to Tesla employees and VIPs and kept 20 units aside for production validation testing. It will likely be a similar situation when it comes to the Cybertruck, with most, if not all, of the first ten deliveries going to employees and VIPs.

An August 22 report claimed Tesla was producing ten Cybertrucks per day. If that is accurate, Tesla has over 600 Cybertrucks kicking around its gigafactory in Texas.

It's unclear why Tesla would limit the first deliveries to a set number of people, especially when the Model Y — another of Tesla's EVs that was designed as an affordable, commercial success — went straight to retail. However, this limited initial release could point to continued production and quality control issues, which have always been somewhat of a problem for Tesla, but even more so with the Cybertruck.

It could also be that the Cybertruck is still undergoing hardware or software validation and testing. Just a few weeks ago, a Cybertruck was spotted coming back from some off-road testing with a very bent upper control arm, indicating that the company still had some kinks to work out. 

It seems as though production for the Cybertruck will be slow going initially, and there may be more than a few customers that receive Cybertrucks with less-than-perfect panel alignment, cabins that don't seal, or any of the other myriad problems faced by early owners of the Model 3, S, X, and Y.

Buy a Cybertruck 1/24 die-cast metal toy car on Amazon or read about the Cybertruck's development in Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk.