Tesla’s Cybertruck Delay Reflects High Demand For Model Y — Elon’s Prediction Is Coming True
The days of “no demand” are no more — well, they never were, but we are seeing this more and more. In recent news, Tesla officially delayed the Cybertruck until 2022. An eagle-eyed tweeter noticed this in Tesla’s online configurator for the Cybertruck.
BREAKING: Tesla has officially delayed the Cybertruck to 2022.
"You will be able to complete your configuration as production nears in 2022." pic.twitter.com/VreJ0TwyqS
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 7, 2021
Many suspected that Tesla would end up delaying the Cybertruck’s deliveries until next year, especially after the release of the Model S Plaid and Model X Plaid. It should be noted, however, that a 2022 delivery date doesn’t mean that Tesla is delaying the production of the Cybertruck. Teslarati pointed out that the entire EV sector is having similar challenges. Rivian unveiled its R1T pickup in 2018 yet hasn’t started customer deliveries. (The truck was actually a 2021 CleanTechnica Car of the Year finalist because it was supposed to be delivered in the first half of the year. Now that those deliveries have delayed, it turns out that it actually should have been a contender in this year’s competition.) Lucid’s CEO, Peter Rawlinson, is dealing with ongoing supply chain issues and that has led to delays of the Lucid Air.
I remember when writing this article that we might be writing about a Cybertruck delay soon. I wrote it a few days ago and it touched upon Tesla’s plans to make its first made-in-Texas test Model Y this week. That news came from Joe Tegtmeyer, who’s a member of the Giga Texas drone pilot group “Quad Squad.” He said that not only was Tesla preparing to produce the new test Model Y, but that Tesla’s convinced that within the next two months, it will have production Model Ys coming out of Giga Texas. Considering that it’s August, this range spans August and September. Now that Cybertruck deliveries are being delayed, I think this reflects just how high the demand is for the Tesla Model Y.
Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, Lars Moravy, even hinted at the idea of a delay without actually saying the words. I mentioned this in the aforementioned article as well. Moravy explained that the Cybertruck will be moving into the beta phases later this year and that Tesla plans to ramp it up after the Model Y is up and going.
In June, Yahoo! reported that the Tesla Model Y Long Range had almost sold out for Q3 (before Q3 even started, and we are still early in Q3). Tesla also raised its prices on the Model Y. All of this shows just how high that demand is. With the price rise of $3,500 and now the news of delays of the Cybertruck, we can’t help but see what’s right in front of us: Elon’s prediction is coming true.
“When it comes to Model Y, we think Model Y will be the best-selling car or vehicle of any kind in the world and probably next year. … I’d say more likely than not, that in 2022, Model Y is the best-selling car or truck of any kind in the world.” —Elon Musk, Tesla Q1 2021 Earnings Call
For more on that, see: Elon Musk: Expect Tesla Model Y To Be Best Selling Car, SUV, Or Truck In World In 2022 Or 2023.
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