Tesla (TSLA) has stopped taking orders for its least expensive Cybertruck, hinting at demand concerns as more expensive Foundation Series trucks pile up in inventory.
Over the weekend, Tesla halted orders for the rear-wheel drive (RWD) version of the Cybertruck, which came in at around $61,000 and offered 250 miles of range. Now the “cheapest” Cybertruck on sale is the $99,990 all-wheel drive (AWD) version, with a range of 318 miles.
Per Tesla’s website, the Cybertruck AWD — which is the limited-edition Foundation Series model that will only be offered in the first year — can be ordered with immediate delivery in August or September. The higher-end tri-motor ‘Cyberbeast’ version, costing $119,900, can be ordered with delivery estimated in October at the earliest.
Halting orders of the least-costly Cybertruck trim is somewhat problematic, given that the company has around 1 million preorders for the vehicle, so says Elon Musk, and a goal of having an annual run rate of 200,000 Cybertrucks across all trims produced by the end of the year.
To be sure, the Cybertruck has sold well — 8,755 units in the second quarter, per Kelley Blue Book, compared to 4,466 Ford F-150 Lightnings and only 3,309 Rivian R1Ts. But it’s still a relatively low volume EV for Tesla, which delivered 1.8 million vehicles globally last year.
Sam Abuelsamid, principal transportation and mobility analyst at research firm Guidehouse Insights, said that Tesla has a history of announcing low-cost entry-level versions of its EVs and then delaying or offering them in very limited quantities.
Meanwhile, Abuelsamid believes there’s a demand issue, especially for the pricier Cybertrucks.
“Right now, I think what has happened is that most of the people that reserved have decided that they didn’t want the truck at the higher price and reduced capability,” Abuelsamid said to Yahoo Finance, referring to the fact that when the Cybertruck was announced, it had better features and more attractive pricing. “Thus when it came time to convert reservations to firm orders, it seems a majority have canceled.”
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It’s not unusual for only about 30%-35% of hand-raisers to convert. But Abuelsamid said that if Tesla really had 1 million reservations, the current Cybertruck conversion rate seems to be far worse than that 30%-35% industry standard.
And that is because light demand seems to be resulting in ballooning Cybertruck supply.
Abuelsamid noted there is anecdotal evidence that large numbers of unsold Foundation Series dual- and tri-motor Cybertrucks are presently sitting in storage yards around the country.
“Since the Foundation Series logo is etched [onto the truck], they need to move this inventory before they can drop the price back to $80k or $100k. The fact that you can order and get almost immediate delivery would back up this assessment that supply vastly outstrips demand at the current price and range.”
Bottom line: Abuelsamid believes most of the people who actually want the Cybertruck already have it, and he suspects sales will now settle in closer to higher-end Model S and Model X sales. Tesla sold around 40,000 Model S and Model X vehicles in the US last year, per Kelley Blue Book, which would be significantly less than the 200,000 annual Cybertruck production run rate targeted by Tesla.
Still, Tesla’s move to halt sales of the Cybertruck RWD doesn’t mean it has gone away for good. Abuelsamid noted that Tesla projected the Cybertruck RWD wouldn’t begin deliveries until 2025 anyway, so it might reappear on the Tesla order page at some point next year.
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance covering the auto industry. You can follow him on X and on Instagram.
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