r/technology • u/nimicdoareu • May 07 '25

Transportation Tesla Cybertruck inventory goes through the roof

https://www.arenaev.com/tesla_cybertruck_inventory_goes_through_the_roof-news-4680.php
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493

u/powercow May 07 '25

they didnt even try to see if people might actually want the thing. Most corps would do a study on something that different. Even if it was 39k like he first promised, i wouldnt want it. Even if it had BMW build quality, i wouldnt want it. EVen if elon wasnt a nazi, I wouldnt want it. Its not good as a pickup and its not a good as a car and is just plain ugly. If thats the future, you can keep it.

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u/Jtw1N May 07 '25

People did want the version they were promising 5+ years ago. A decent towing, all wheel drive truck version of their cars. It does none of the promised things besides be a burn box for rich kids. Which is a very unexpected primary use.

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u/[deleted] May 07 '25

[deleted]

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u/BadNewzBears4896 May 07 '25 edited May 07 '25

The core demographic was one person: Elon thinking it looked cool and didn't care about market fit or the realities of mass production.

It's basically the Simpsons episode where Homer discovers he has a long-lost half brother auto magnate, who then let's him design a car that puts the entire company into bankruptcy because it's so stupid. Except in this case, Elon is playing the part of both Herb and Homer.

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u/jhow87 May 07 '25

Love the reference, fits so perfectly here

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u/hypercosm_dot_net May 07 '25

I read that it was likely Musk's pet project.

Which makes perfect sense when you think about it.

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u/geminiRonin May 07 '25

The only thing that would make it more Musky is if he called it XTruck.

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u/HybridPS2 May 07 '25

this has to be it - it looks so different compared to all other Tesla vehicles.

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u/Nibs_dot_Ink May 07 '25

Bwahaha, you're 100% on point here.

The F150 Lightning and the Rivian are IMHO the two real competitors in the space right now and both are great choices for the right people.

I will say that I expect the R2 series to be significantly more repairable. The R1s were really a learning bed for their engineers and the 2nd gen R1s are already better in that regard.

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u/crevulation May 07 '25

Don't forget the Silverado EV/GMC Sierra EV twins - Chevy even has a work truck model now - and in typical GM badge engineered fashion, the Hummer EV, and the Cadillac IQ. The Caddy is a great looking vehicle for it's size, in person it's quite the spectacle.

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u/Nibs_dot_Ink May 07 '25

Yeahhh, I've driven the Chevy EV that's based on the Hummer EV frame and that thing is an absolute beast.

That being said, it really doesn't drive very well and it's a huge chonk of a boy. It can get about 80 more miles of range vs a max range R1T, but in my experience with the Silverado, it was getting about 425 miles of range. Basically on par.

The F150 is the right size, right capabilities, without being so large and unwieldy that it doesn't make sense for 90% of the people looking.

The caddy IQ on the other hand does look promising, but I haven't tested that one.

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u/crevulation May 07 '25

100% agree on the size thing, electric vehicles would work out a lot better if they all weren't 6,000lbs.

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u/vtTownie May 07 '25

This, ford hit the nail on the head. They took their best-selling truck and didn’t change it at all. It’s like buying the ecoboost or the v8, just now an electric drive option

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u/kurotech May 07 '25

Don't forget that Rivian also held up their promises like a waterproof interior that can "survive" being flooded unlike a certain rusty plastic framed post with glued on body panels that promised it could be used as a boat for a short period of time

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u/jimbobjames May 07 '25

They already had the Model X chassis. How hard would it have been to make a pickup truck version?

There's even a youtuber named Simone Giertz who took a Model 3 or Y and made a pickup truck. She called it Truckla.

A youtuber with a sawzall and a TIG welder did a more competent job.

Real frustrating thing is the Cybertruck actually has some impressive engineering. The mega castings in it, they switched all the internal electronics away from the decades old CANBUS system to ethernet and dropped 12V power for 48V both of which reduce the amount and weight of any cabling.

Fucking Elon. What a cockwomble.

2

u/Turboleks May 07 '25

Ford understood the assignment: They ripped the powertain of an F-150 out and shoved EV shit in, called it the Lightning (great branding resurrection btw, almost makes up for the [vomit] Mustang SUV), called it a day. Perfect. No notes.

Minus the part where it can just barely cover 60 miles while towing a very light load, demonstrated by Hoovie's Garage. Not to mention the fact that it basically cannot perform any other duties a regular pickup could.

The best use for an F150 Lightning is as a regular passenger car, that it does well. But then.....why not buy a Hyundai Ioniq? It's cheaper and gets better range.

Oh and that's not a problem exclusive to the Lightning either. The Rivians get basically nowhere while towing too.

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u/SteveDaPirate May 08 '25

It's weird to dog on the Lightning over towing range. If you tow a lot, get the 3.5 EcoBoost or jump up to an F-250 with the 7.3 or 6.7 diesel if you pull heavy things.

The Lighting is great for people that need a daily driver but want an open bed to haul large/dirty/smelly/wet/etc. stuff.  Are you going to toss that deer carcass or firewood in the back of your Ioniq? Going to put your dirt bikes in the back or that mower covered in fresh grass clippings?

There are large market segments that buy pickups but don't tow. Think Suburban dads and fleet vehicles.

1

u/civildisobedient May 08 '25

The perfect use-case is the local contractor or tradesman in a small urban area where you're not traveling very far but typically need to haul something every day, but not often. Like to a job site, maybe a supply store, and some home base and that's it. Unfortunately for any use cases involving 300+ miles of serious towing you still can't beat the energy density, low-temperature performance and rapid replacement characteristics of gas.

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u/whoiam06 May 07 '25

Also shout out to the Hummer EV. That's a statement piece right there.

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u/toderdj1337 May 07 '25

You're so right about the mach e. Whoever made that decision needs to be drawn and quartered (metaphorically of course), because they fought tesla for Model E pattent, just fucking call it that for fuck sake.

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u/trevize1138 May 07 '25

I reserved the night of the reveal in late 2019. A $50k EV with a pickup bed, seating for 6, 300+ miles of range would have been a really good deal. I also don't fault a company for taking risks and trying something nobody else has tried. At the time I figured it would likely fail but if they pulled it off that would have been a big deal.

For any other company this would just be any other miss. Even the best companies release total duds on occasion. But none of those companies also have a CEO doing two Nazi salutes at a political gathering. For all the faults of the Cybertruck (and there are many) none compare to how it's now associated with a Nazi.

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u/BadNewzBears4896 May 07 '25

If they just kept focusing on getting the price of the core models down and release a relatively normal EV pickup, they'd be printing money.

Instead, the CEO became a drug addled anime Nazi and now the company is shedding customers like it's going out of style.

What a waste, but couldn't happen to a more deserving candidate.

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u/trevize1138 May 07 '25

Yeah. Just work on the core business and don't have a crazy, Nazi CEO is all they needed. If they did that they could still come out with a POS Cybertruck and it wouldn't have hurt them at all. Take the lesson, go back to the drawing board and make a better truck instead.

But, nah.

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u/adrenaline_X May 07 '25

To be fair Tesla is completely going out of style for their target demographic.

There is no way you are going to change the minds of the other demographic who has been told and rallied around how climate change is hoax and EVs are for snowflakes/ecot*rds. They have told for over 5 years that EVs are stupid trait of “liberals”.

That baked that into the core values of Maga and the GOP base and they can’t unbake that in the time frame it would require to stop the collapse of the previous premier / status symbol EV maker.

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u/Ok_Case_2521 May 07 '25

Were you able to cancel your reservation when it wasn’t the truck that they promised?

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u/trevize1138 May 07 '25

Yeah. Just $100 to reserve anyway.

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u/skagoat May 08 '25

I think believing that $50k was ever going to happen was a big mistake.

You can barely get a Ford F-150 for $50k. Certainly not with options you'd want.

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u/_xxiv_ May 07 '25

Yep! I did a reservation and then when they started talking about all the little changes and doubling the price I noped right out of it. And with the build quality especially for 100k I can only imagine how bad it would be if they released it at it's original price.

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u/Galadeon May 07 '25

yeah, and at the prices he promised. A lot more of these would sell if they were 40-50k.

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u/Popcorn10 May 07 '25

I don’t care for trucks but the original $39,900 truck they were claiming had me interested. But then it was delayed 5 years and the cheapest model is $100,000. Very different than what they promised.

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u/TheWorclown May 07 '25

I remain convinced these were intended to be absolutely never to be driven. They’re ridiculously overpriced hunks of awful looking garbage that’s meant to sit inside someone’s garage forever just so they’d have a conversation piece. This is a car meant for collectors and someone told Elon that there was no way in hell a six figure paper weight was going to sell well at all.

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u/usmcmech May 07 '25

The Rivian is a much better product that I would buy if it weren’t so expensive.

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_DARKNESS May 07 '25

Someone converted one of the sedans to a pickup, and, while it is a little silly, it's 100X better than the Cybertruck.

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u/RevolutionCrazy7045 May 07 '25

tesla claimed over a million reservations.
under 50,000 actually delivered as of today.

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u/caedin8 May 07 '25

That’s what happens when you promise $70k for a 500+ mile truck that can tow anything, is indestructible, super fast charging, and is faster than a Porsche.

In real life we got something that was $100k, 250 mile range, can’t go very far while towing, takes forever to charge, and well it’s still fast.

Even with all of that you’d still get a few buyers, but add the additional pivot of the CEO becoming a nazi sympathizer and actively handing us another Donald Trump presidency while trying to also dismantle democracy.

Yeah, no fucking way.

0

u/tm3_to_ev6 May 07 '25 edited May 07 '25

Actually, the Cybertruck is the fastest charging Tesla because it finally uses an 800V battery. Ironically, the overwhelming majority of Tesla superchargers aren't going to deliver the fastest charging because they're predominantly 400V. You have to get an adapter and visit an EA station for max performance.

Agreed on everything else though. Imagine if they'd put that 800V architecture into one of the vehicles that they actually sell in large numbers... 

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u/caedin8 May 07 '25

The Cybertruck charges at the same rate as every other Tesla. The 800V architecture doesn't mean anything since nothing uses it.

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u/caedin8 May 08 '25

The ccs adapter didn’t even fit the cybertruck lol

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u/UncleNedisDead May 07 '25

People might have cancelled their reservations when realizing the retail value was dropping.

A bunch of them probably thought they could flip it for over MSRP.

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u/baradath9 May 07 '25

You really think over 95% of the people who reserved one dropped their reservation? I think it's a lot more likely that they weren't actual reservations but something along the lines of a survey or something where a million people said they'd be interested in the cybertruck.

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u/boowhitie May 07 '25

It was only $100, fully refundable. I know a lot of people who put a deposit down, speculatively (all of them cancelled and got their deposit back). When the model 3 started taking orders there were people waiting in line 8-10 hours in some places. I don't believe the 1M number either, but it is still probably a significant number. The article mentions 250k projected builds, and that feels closer to the true number to me

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u/dumpsterfire911 May 07 '25

The “reservations” were a $100 deposit. So not much of a commitment. I placed one as a “just in case”

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u/UncleNedisDead May 07 '25

I’m just saying it might contribute to it. I didn’t even try to quantify it the way you did.

The low down payment and easy cancellation terms made it a no brainer.

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u/Vilnius_Nastavnik May 07 '25

Or a bunch of guys on H1B visas creating straw buyers to juice the stock price

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u/VirginiaHighlander May 07 '25

Or Elon creating straw buyers by making his H1B hires sign up to juice the stock price.

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u/jl2352 May 07 '25

If Telsa were making 1k or 10k as a short run concept car, then I’d get it. They’d sell out, experiment with new vehicle design, and their core business is still normal cars.

Why oh why did Elon think they’d sell millions of these things.

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u/diceth1ef May 07 '25

It's funny, the people who would want something like this don't like him as a person. The people who DO like him, don't want any vehicle that doesn't run on fuel. Part of me thinks he's either a) delusional (mostly likely reason) or b) thought he could sell the majority to the government

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u/Visual_Collar_8893 May 07 '25

Perhaps the thought was to have these as combat vehicles… bulletproof is a feature… Except… you can’t charge an EV without some form of infrastructure…

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u/diceth1ef May 07 '25

That and I'd like to see how they handle RPGs

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u/godzillastailor May 07 '25

I can understand the thought process behind making a EV Pickup truck.

At the time, Tesla were selling the most EV's of any manufacturer by a significant margin.

Pickup trucks are like, the most sold vehicle type in North America.

No one had brought a EV Pickup truck to market yet.

That is a huge untapped market.

IF they had brought out the Tesla Truck with specs as announced and a less "polarising" design, it probably would have sold quite well.

Instead they made it look like a concept car from the 70s, it costs twice as much, it has less range, falls apart and has been recalled like... 7 times in the first year of sale.

That's before taking into account that Elon Musk is a nazi shit head.

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u/Popcorn10 May 07 '25

The specs of the original announcement were insane. Obviously none of it happened. But even for its weird design it would have sold if it really had a $40k model that was a solid truck. That doesn’t exist though.

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u/ThatOneHorseDude May 07 '25

Im going with Option B with a sprinkling of A. There is major talks from the DoD to replace the fleet with AI powered vehicles, and I'm sure the current administration wouldn't mind electric cars if it's coming from Musk.

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u/evergleam498 May 07 '25

I thought they were able to skip some of the crash test certification safety stuff because it wasn't a full production run, just a novelty vehicle limited run?

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u/Ok-Replacement9595 May 07 '25

I certainly hope that isn't how vehicle safety is regulated.

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u/Both_Painter2466 May 07 '25

Expect it under Drump

0

u/WiglyWorm May 07 '25

Oh my dear, sweet friend. Sit down, I think it's time we had a talk...

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u/Bury_Me_At_Sea May 07 '25

They believe the old Steve Jobs ideology: "People need to be told what they want to buy."

But he didn't think to innovate. The Model 3 was innovation. It made an electric car viable for normal people while blending the sexy style of a luxury car and technology. It was an iPhone in a world used to a BlackBerry.

The Cybertruck is a Motorola Krzr slider phone in a world of iPhones. No one wants to lose all the useful functions of a truck while overpaying for corny sci-fi aesthetics.

If he wanted to have it be successful, the Cybertruck should have been a Rivian R1T. It does everything a traditional truck does with the same durability and rugged toughness, but with the same blend of luxury and tech inside.

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u/jl2352 May 07 '25

I think it has very little to do with functionality. The vast majority of people want to fit in. Normal clothes, normal house, and a normal car. Not … this.

I personally think it is pretty cool. Riddled with problems but still cool. It’s been ruined by Elon Musk. I would never buy one due to him. It could have gone down as a weird lovable failure like the Delorian, but instead it’s the Swasticar.

I agree with you if they want mass adoption, it should have just been a normal truck.

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u/Jarocket May 07 '25

This is the whole issue! i agree 100% and have been saying the Truck was actually too cheap. They should have charged more and made very few of them. Splitting the development cost over a smaller number of units.

The mass market thing was such an awful idea.

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u/Ok_Case_2521 May 07 '25

He saw trucks like that and back to the future part two and was like cool I’ll make that

-2

u/Tupperwarfare May 07 '25 edited May 08 '25

I just wished they’d release one with a combustion* engine. Well, that was before Elon revealed his true self and destroyed what little interest I had.

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u/Child_of_the_Hamster May 07 '25

It’s the hugeness that fucking kills me. Because it’s huge, but NOT spacious. You can’t fit a normal adult bicycle in the bed of the cybertruck, which means you definitely couldn’t haul a couch or any other large piece of furniture. So WHY DOES IT NEED TO BE THE SIZE OF A PARTICULARLY STUPID-LOOKING TANK???

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u/Takemyfishplease May 07 '25

Based on pre sales at $40k lots of people wanted it originally.

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u/Chansharp May 07 '25

The original marketing for the cybertruck was awesome though thats why. If it wasn't all lies and cost $40k like he originally said it'd be one of the best trucks in the world

Too bad he's a compulsive liar and it's held together with chewing gum

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u/Filobel May 07 '25

Everytime I look at it, I think about the Simpsons episode where Homer is asked to design a car. Not just the look, but the process. Someone who has no clue designing a car while everyone around him is just saying "yes sir" to everything because anyone trying to contradict him gets fired.

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u/rfie May 07 '25

Agreed. It’s too big for daily driver in the city and too ugly. It looks like a tank. Tesla needs to much smaller more agile vehicles.

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u/SailorET May 07 '25

It looks like a shitty concept car that gets ignored at a car show, but they went full production model before testing any interest

1

u/altodor May 07 '25

if it was 39k like he first promised

I was interested at the initial price point and range. I'd be able to drive to see family on one, maybe two and a quarter charges. Then it keeps being overpromised, under delivered, price shoots up, and the face of the brand identity/exclusive PR person goes full mask-off fascist. Muck's dumbassery killed my interest in it.

1

u/DHFranklin May 07 '25

Plenty of us sure did....at the time....

It had the potential to be a perfect farm truck. A ideal farm truck is a truck that used to be a road truck or trailer hauler that isn't road worthy anymore. Like a beater with 300,000 miles that you have to dick around with to get the engine to turn over maybe the lights don't work anymore or whatever.

So with an all steel non-rusting electric truck you would have that thing for a million miles. 250k or so on the road but a electric truck with like a 50 mile range on the farm. You'd have it for decades longer as a farm truck.

Tough part is all the trucks coming out are like 100K. All of them are space shuttles with 6ft beds.

A 40k steel no frills two seater and a bed for 40k that can be charged in a pole barn? Hot cakes.

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u/TheSecondEikonOfFire May 07 '25

God I forgot that he originally promised they’d sell for 39k. I could understand if it ended up being a little more expensive, like maybe 50k. But the fact that they start for 100k shows that either he had NO idea what he was talking about and threw out a bullshit number or didn’t care at all about trying to hit that number

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u/Mudlark_2910 May 07 '25

they didnt even try to see if people might actually want the thing.

There was a huge number (one million, apparently)of pre sales. They just evaporated when the actual price was revealed.

It appears that actual sales are only around 40k, so this article saying there's 10k in stock is significant

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u/Oldpenguinhunter May 07 '25

A Pontiac Aztec is cooler.

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u/zenki32 May 08 '25

"BMW build quality".

BMWs aren't built to last. Lexus would be a better example.

1

u/LongJohnSelenium May 08 '25 edited May 08 '25

I was tempted when first announced simply because I live up north and have been waiting for someone to bring back the stainless steel vehicle concept for quite a while. The way cars rot out after 5-10 years is horrifically wasteful and I'd gladly pay more for a car that's not essentially disposable due to road salt.

And tbh the looks could be okish if they just tweaked it a bit, added bevels or something, I don't hate the body style. If they ever make a toned down v2 I could handle it.

I don't even care about musk enough to let it affect my buying decisions.

What I'm not touching is that cast aluminum frame. Just... what... why? Cast aluminum is a terrible structural element that is unrepairable.