Cybertruck will be the last Tesla to use stainless steel exoskeleton

[REM]

I concur 100%. 125,000 yearly CT production will never happen.

The $80k+ premium MSRP and political nonsense associated with Elon Musk will limit CT sales to <50k units annually.

CEOs must remain politically agnostic, lest sales are limited?

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[dalton108]

CEOs must remain politically agnostic, lest sales are limited?

My friend, I trust that you know that there’s a chasm between agnostic and what we’re seeing here.

But here’s the deal, it’s a free country he can be and do whatever he wants to. People will have opinions about that. Some people will vote with their wallets about that. We’re starting to see that show up in the numbers it will accelerate. The audience that he wants to address in this nation, outside of a few of you here, don’t want what he’s selling and never will.

His natural constituency - the ones who brung him to the dance, don’t want what he’s becoming and therefore don’t want what he’s selling either.

The good news for Tesla is that he doesn’t give a shit about either group any longer. China is Tesla’s future so in the words of the man himself - let that sink in!

 

[REM]

My friend I trust that you know that there’s a chasm between agnostic and what we’re seeing here.

Certainly not. I have no idea why people think it would be reasonable for any one person to shy away from personal opinions just because they hold a certain position in a company.

And those who decry him having an opinion always use nebulous terms instead of giving a specific line item issue.

 

[REM]

"Cybertruck will be the last Tesla to use stainless steel exoskeleton"

I'm not seeing anything but conjecture on this conclusion. Has anyone seen Tesla state this plainly?

 

[dalton108]

Certainly not. I have no idea why people think it would be reasonable for any one person to shy away from personal opinions just because they hold a certain position in a company.

And those who decry him having an opinion always use nebulous terms instead of giving a specific line item issue.

Sorry, I made some major updates and additions above just FYI.

 

[Deleted member 22486]

CEOs must remain politically agnostic, lest sales are limited?

That is the very definition of Elon, lol

 

[Deleted member 22486]

"Cybertruck will be the last Tesla to use stainless steel exoskeleton"

I'm not seeing anything but conjecture on this conclusion. Has anyone seen Tesla state this plainly?

It’s in their earnings report from yesterday

 

[YDR37]

The full size pickup truck segment is a very, very tough nut to crack with conservative buyers who are loyal to Chevy, Ford or Ram. They also love V8 gas and diesel power plants under the hood. I don’t have the numbers but I feel the CT only made a very small dent regarding full size domestic pickup truck sales.

I took a stab at estimating the numbers after 3Q 2024 data were available:

I get a total of about 750,000 pickups sold in the US during 3Q 2024. This includes everything with a bed, from a hulking F-250 with a Crew Cab/8' bed to a cute li'l Hyundai Santa Cruz, and including everything from ICE to hybrid to BEV.

Of those, about 30,000 were BEVs. So about 4% of pickup sales in 3Q 2024 were BEVs, and about half of those, or 2%, were Cybertrucks specifically.

It could be argued that all current BEV pickups are full-size, so they should only be compared to other full-size pickups (excluding Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger, etc.). In that case, the BEV share rises to about 5.3%, and the Cybertruck share to about 2.7%.

The numbers shouldn't be much different for 4Q 2024. The pricing of the CT went down, due to the introduction of the non-Foundation option, but sales didn't rise.

 

[dalton108]

I have no idea why people think it would be reasonable for any one person to shy away from personal opinions just because they hold a certain position in a company.

As someone who does it every day, I’ll answer that question. Because, I have clients who are all across the political spectrum. I have employees who are all across the political spectrum.

In my office, I am agnostic in my communications with my clients and staff I am agnostic.

Maybe a little bit easier for me because I’m not a partisan (I hate both sides)! I don’t believe in belief systems and political brands! I believe in facts and solutions. I’m a pragmatist. I have STRONG opinions, but they are not defined by, informed by, or confined by my membership in any stupid political party! I don’t do teams! I pity those of you do.

But when I was a partisan (decades ago) it was my job to be neutral maybe that’s because I’m a lawyer, but I run a business just like Elon does … and we will never shut down half of our potential addressable market so that I can “express myself.”

 

[Deleted member 17810]

Certainly not. I have no idea why people think it would be reasonable for any one person to shy away from personal opinions just because they hold a certain position in a company.

And those who decry him having an opinion always use nebulous terms instead of giving a specific line item issue.

You're conflating being lauded for having an opinion, and being lauded for the actual opinion he holds.


Flat earthers are allowed to have the notion that earth is flat, that doesn't change the fact the actual notion is fucking stupid.

musk is no longer in the former category of "opinions".

 

[woodersonowl]

I also had hoped for a Cybervan.



Not surprising but great to hear! They may all be standard in future models.

I was hoping for a cyberhatchback

 

[ninja6r]

I think they’ll be moving toward whatever variety of carbon fiber/composite they’re using in robotaxi.

I also don’t think they’ll ever sell anywhere near 130k CTs/yr, at any price. I know others strongly disagree. We shall see.

Also, torquenews is just the worst!

Honestly, it's a halo model now and will go the way of the X and S. If Tesla was smart, they'd moved to a lower-cost vehicle and start on a more appealing truck model. But with Elon at the helm, I highly doubt they do that. This vehicle was a huge miss, on many levels.

 

[YDR37]

... I feel the CT only made a very small dent regarding full size domestic pickup truck sales.

And that raises another issue. There are two kinds of people who might buy a Cybertruck:

(1) People who are in the market for an electric vehicle.
(2) People who are in the market for a pickup.

It's ideal for Tesla when Cybertruck buyers come from Group 2. Tesla wants people to buy a CT instead of an ICE F-150 or Silverado or Ram or Tundra. In that case, Tesla steals a customer away from Ford or GM or Stellantis or Toyota, and increases the size of their own customer base.

But I don't think this is particularly common. I would acknowledge that the CT is stealing customers from other EV pickups, like the F-150 Lightning or the Rivian R1T. However, EV pickups are only a small fraction of the pickup market. I doubt that the CT is having any significant impact on the enormous ICE pickup sector..

I think most CT buyers are in Group 1, and that a high percentage of them are existing Tesla customers. If that's true, then the CT is not doing much to expand Tesla's customer base. In other words, the CT isn't so much stealing customers from the ICE F-Series or Silverado -- it's more likely cannibalizing customers from the Model S and Model X.

 

[YDR37]

"Cybertruck will be the last Tesla to use stainless steel exoskeleton"

I'm not seeing anything but conjecture on this conclusion. Has anyone seen Tesla state this plainly?

Yes, description and link in Post #29 above.

 

[HaulingAss]

"Cybertruck will be the last Tesla to use stainless steel exoskeleton"

I'm not seeing anything but conjecture on this conclusion. Has anyone seen Tesla state this plainly?

Of course not. When I read the slide deck my conclusion was that Tesla was not ruling out using stainless steel going forward, they were simply indicating none of their planned lineup would be using it. And it's not hard to figure out why, it's a very premium, very expensive material with all the chromium and nickel in it (more than your kitchen appliances). Not to mention that it's not your typical soft annealed stainless steel, it's incredibly difficult to work it once it's in the full hard state.

But Tesla has not ruled out new models in the future that use it, they have just indicated none of their planned models are designed around it. This means if there were to be more Tesla vehicles using cold-rolled full hard stainless steel they would not hit the market for at least 5-7 years, if ever.

Obviously, the savings from not needing a body paint shop did not pan out to be greater than the savings of using much cheaper soft, mild steel and painting it. The Cybertruck will maintain its throne as the most damage resistant vehicle ever made, at least for the foreseeable future.

I, for one, am super glad that Elon went out on this particular limb and brought us the best truck humanity could mass-produce, even if it is above most mortals budgets.

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