Tesla could raise Cybertruck price 'dramatically' but Elon Musk says it won't be fair
During the Q4 earnings call with investors, Tesla mentioned that demand for the Cybertruck is still off the charts and it currently has a supply problem with its first electric pickup. Apart from the early deliveries that are going out right now, the 2024 Cybertruck order book is almost full, too, while Tesla said that it is witnessing a very "encouraging" reservations-to-order ratio.
Cybertruck price increase
The "off the hook" demand for the Cybertruck that will soon see all of its unit builds for this year sold out means that Tesla could easily raise its price to much higher levels. In fact, Elon Musk mentioned that Tesla could very "dramatically" increase the Cybertruck price and it would still sell all of the batches it is able to manufacture during this initial "all hands on deck" Cybertruck production ramp spree.
It won't, though, because Elon Musk wants to keep the Cybertruck fairly affordable so that it can grab market share from the competition and ultimately hit its ambitious target of 250,000 annual Cybertruck sales, more than 20,000 a month. Another reason that Tesla won't "gouge people for early delivery" with higher Cybertruck prices is because "that doesn't feel right," added Musk, perhaps referring to the reputational damage potential of such a move.
Tesla has been slashing the tags of its bestselling models relentlessly in the past year or so, with another round of Model Y price cuts of up to 9% initiated just in the first weeks of 2024. This put pressure on its profit margins and led to both revenue and earnings misses that sent its stock price down after it reported the Q4 financials.
Tesla seemingly won't resort to padding the numbers by extorting future Cybertruck owners with higher prices, though, all the more so since the electric pickup is still a rather niche vehicle in its roster.
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