The crowdsourced reservation tracker for the Tesla Cybertruck tallied over 1.5 million orders. There is no other vehicle in the history of the automotive industry that has garnered so much interest with people willing to throw down money without knowing when they will get their car.
The Cybertruck saga is finally coming to an end, after several years of delays, but thankfully (or not) without major redesigns the electric truck of the future is getting ready for production. That fact alone seems to have prompted more new orders, and people who ordered it years ago aren’t giving up on their queues. It looks like Tesla will have a much bigger problem on its hands.
After years of waiting, loyal customers finally have a chance to drive their Cybertruck, but if they didn’t order early, it could be a few more years of waiting for some. With 1.5 million orders in the backlog, the usual production problems and associated delays, it could take up to 10 years for Tesla to fulfill the backlog.
Earlier in the year, Tesla began shutting down order sites and refunding existing orders for customers in Australia, which apparently represented as much as a third of all orders. The company will focus for the next few years at least on the North American market, but it will still have difficulty delivering the Cybertruck on time.
1.5 million orders means Tesla made $1.5 billion before selling a single Cybertruck. All orders are optional and fully refundable, but most people want to keep waiting. With Elon Musk admitting that the initial price of $40,000 is no longer possible, it will be interesting to see how many orders translate into sales.
Once the Cybertruck is finally released, it will face some serious competition. Of course – no other vehicle can match its looks, there is no competition with this one. The Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T are able to keep up with the Tesla pickup truck, and the GMC Sierra and Chevy Silverado will join the fray soon. Then there’s the only Hummer EV and the Lordstown Endurance already in production.