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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has denied claims that Cybertruck is "unprofitable," announcing plans to halt its production in about eight months to prioritise Cybercab manufacturing.
In a post on social media platform X, Musk said demand for Cybertruck continues to exceed the company's production capacity, but Tesla intends to shift its manufacturing focus towards increasing Cybercab output. "The Cybertruck order rate far exceeds our production rate. We will try to make as many as possible before shutting down the line in about 8 months, but will have to return deposits for a lot of people," he said in a reply to a social media post by a user. The user, sharing Musk's earlier post on Cybertruck production, wrote, "Its incomparable. But cars are going to become robots, their forms and functions will change, and we wont be coming back to this moment. Get it while you can." Musk dismissed reports suggesting that Cybertruck production was being discontinued due to profitability concerns "This is not a case of Cybertruck being unprofitable, as has been misreported by legacy media, but rather that the opportunity cost of the complexity of Cybertruck is vastly outweighed by the value of incremental Cybercab production," he stated further. In an earlier development, Musk said that Tesla would wind down Cybertruck production at its Gigafactory in Texas around mid-2027 to free up manufacturing capacity for scaling up production of its autonomous Cybercab vehicle. "We are still building Cybertruck for another 8 or 9 months btw, but then Tesla needs to focus on scaling Cybercab. There will never be another vehicle like it," he said in an X post. Tesla first unveiled the Cybertruck, an all-electric pickup truck featuring a distinctive stainless-steel exterior, in November 2019, while customer deliveries began four years later, in November 2023. Marketed as a futuristic alternative to traditional pickup trucks, the vehicle has faced challenges in generating the mass-market demand initially expected. Meanwhile, the Cybercab, unveiled in October 2024, is Tesla's purpose-built autonomous electric vehicle developed for its planned robotaxi network. The two-seater vehicle is designed to operate without a steering wheel or pedals, aligning with Musk's vision of developing a fully autonomous transportation network. (ANI)
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