Musk Says Tesla ‘Dug Our Own Grave’ With the Cybertruck

After missing yet another deadline for the Tesla Cybertruck to actually launch, company boss Elon Musk has come out to set the mood ahead of the electric pickup’s eventual rollout. In a Tesla earnings call last night, Musk explained the challenges the EV maker has faced bringing the angular Cybertruck to fruition and warned that the rollout of the divisive machine could still take a little while.

According to a report from Business Insider, Musk explained to investors on the call that the Cybertruck’s angular design presented the company with countless problems when it comes to scaling up to mass production.

Because of its production challenges, Musk and co missed its Q3 deadline to begin deliveries of the all-electric truck. Now, the company is targeting November 30 for the truck’s launch, making it the sixth delivery date Tesla has so far announced. As Business Insider explains:

“We dug our own grave with the Cybertruck,” Musk said.

It’s “one of those special products that comes along only once in a long while. And special products that come along once in a long while are just incredibly difficult to bring to market to reach volume, to be prosperous,” he added.

Actually starting deliveries of the ridiculous pickup is just the first hurdle Tesla faces. After that, it’s got to rapidly scale up production if it wants any hope of reaching the estimated 2 million people that have their name on the Cybertruck waitlist. However, it doesn’t look like that’s something we can expect to hear about anytime soon.

Instead, Musk has warned that mass-production of the truck now won’t begin in earnest until 2025. At that point, the EV maker is targeting annual output of 250,000 trucks per year. Business Insider adds:

He warned that the challenges of scaling up production meant that it would likely be around 18 months before the Cybertruck is cash flow positive.

“I do want to emphasize that there will be enormous challenges in reaching volume production with the Cybertruck and then making the Cybertruck cashflow positive — this is simply normal,” he said.

So, that’s a delivery date of November 30 to monitor and a production goal of 250,000 per year by 2025. Do you think Musk’s going to meet those targets? Or will we soon be looking out for Cybertruck delivery day number eight?

Image: Tesla

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