Cybertruck becomes the top selling all-American electric pickup as Tesla delays cheaper trim

Tesla's fresh stainless steel Cybertruck pickup may be an acquired taste when it comes to design, but in the span of a few months, it became the cool vehicle to own and customize for many celebrities.

So much so, that it has now edged the Rivian R1T and Ford F-150 Lightning to become the bestselling made-in-America electric pickup truck. Ford still achieved a 61% increase in EV sales, though, but the Cybertruck's arrival may have put a damper on demand for the F-150 Lightning.

In the March-June period, Tesla managed to produce and deliver about 10,000 of the hulking but fast Cybertrucks, beating Ford's 7,902 F-150 Lightning units, or Rivian's 6,500 R1T shipments.

Those are its main competitors in an admittedly tiny market niche, but the achievement still shows that the Cybertruck production ramp is going as planned.

During the Annual Stockholder Meeting, Elon Musk hinted that the next goals are to start delivering regular non-Foundation series Cybertrucks this quarter, and to cut production costs by about 20% in preparation for the cheap RWD Cybertruck launch next year.

Unfortunately, Elon's tease about non-Foundation Cybertruck deliveries by September has now turned to "late 2024" in an email sent to reservation holders, which most likely means a December release:

As an early reservation holder, you have been invited to order your Foundation Series Cybertruck with early access to delivery. Due to continued high demand, we expect to deliver only the Foundation Series through late 2024. Your Cybertruck will be fully optioned and will include limited-edition laser-etched badging, premium accessories, $2,500 in Powershare hardware shop credits, Full-Self Driving capability and more.

The Foundation Series Cybertruck comes with many perks like the ones Tesla lists in the email, but it is also priced $20,000 higher, making the market share grab even more impressive. When Tesla releases its cheaper Cybertruck models, the other electric pickups may fall even further behind in terms of sales numbers.

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