But the landscape will change by the time the truck ships. Tesla has led the charge into long-range electric vehicles, and there’s currently no mass-market electric pickup truck available for sale. If things go according to plan for Tesla, the company’s business will already be in better shape by the time the Cybertruck ships, meaning whatever profit it can reap from the pickup will be gravy. One of the only segments rivaling the growth of pickup trucks over the last few years is the SUV segment (and especially the small SUV segment). Not only will Tesla soon start producing Model 3s in China for that market, making it less of a burden to sell cars there, but the company is also releasing the Model Y crossover at the end of 2020. That said, a lot will happen between now and when the truck starts shipping. While the company squeaked out a $143 million profit in the past quarter, it only did so after including $164 million worth of regulatory credits and money that it’s banked from customers who’ve paid for the yet-to-be-released “full self-driving” version of Autopilot. Tesla’s business could arguably use the bump. People are willing to spend on this segment to haul their toys, to support a lifestyle.” “A $50,000 pickup truck is a very common occurrence now. “Pickup truck buyers spend a lot on their trucks,” says Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics consulting at JD Power. Not only are pickup sales on the rise in the US, but trucks command high average selling prices and high profit margins. While the pickup truck has obviously been a pet project for Musk, it could also be a great opportunity for Tesla’s business. He’s since said the pickup truck is his favorite project out of all the ones Tesla’s working on. Musk continued to toy with the idea in public, saying in April 2017 that a reveal event would happen in “ 18 to 24 months.” In 2018 he said the truck had taken on a “ futuristic-like cyberpunk, Blade Runner” design, and that he didn’t even care much if people didn’t like it. The pickup was even featured in his second “master plan” for Tesla, which he published in 2016. He tweeted in 2012 that he “ould love to make a Tesla supertruck” with “crazy torque” and “dynamic air suspension.” By 2013, he told Business Insider that the company was actually planning to make one. Musk has spent the better part of a decade poking at the idea of a Tesla pickup truck. A 17-inch touchscreen sits in the center of the dashboard, though images of the interior look slightly unfinished. The truck’s vault length is 6.5 feet, and it will have 4-inch suspension in either direction. The payload has a 3,500-pound capacity, with 100 cubic feet of storage space. Musk had von Holzhausen demonstrate the body’s strength by smashing it with the aforementioned sledgehammer. The body is made of ultra-hard 30X cold-rolled stainless steel. The truck can seat a total of six adults, Tesla says.
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