Reconsidering My CT order, YouTube Reviewers stating it's another Edsel, worst new car flop ever

[Jimo]

There's no question that it's a flop, and that's coming from someone who really really likes their truck even though I paid a premium for it.

Even before all the Elon/Tesla hate started the truck just had far too polarizing an appearance for most people to find acceptable.

On the plus side, this means that Tesla is going to be very highly motivated to;

1. Reduce the price further.
2. Do a facelift cosmetic redesign of the truck at the inside of the 3-4 year window.

I just hope that some of the real technical accomplishments for the truck like the air suspension, four wheel steering, etc. survive any redesign work.

Keep in mind that when the CT design was being finalized there were an entire team of engineers in Tesla who went pretty far in designing a more conventional looking truck because they were concerned of exactly what is happening.... people just not accepting it.

I have personally lost track of the number of people who have walked by my truck when it's parked and I'm eating outdoors and can overhear the comments and they've said some variation of:

"f&ing weird!"
"it doesn't look like a truck"
"soooo ugly!!!"
"why did they do it like that"
"It doesn't even have a truck bed it has a trunk"

Etc.

The people who are going to be the hardest hit in all of this are people who bought the truck instead of leasing it. Resale value in 2-3 years if a new updated and more popular model is released is going to take a very brutal hit.

It looks like you're just too sensitive to own one.
The thought also occurred that you might be a negative plant .....

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[Cultmember]

And the 1978 car was?

1976 Oldmobile Cutlass Supreme. Silver with black crushed velvet interior.

 

[canyoncarver]

It looks like you're just too sensitive to own one.
The thought also occurred that you might be a negative plant .....

Oh no, someone doesn't tongue bathe the Cybertruck... they must be a plant.

Have you had someone give you a nazi salute in an upper middle class neighborhood because you are driving a Cybertruck and you just laughed and waved at them?

I don't think you need to opine on how "sensitive" I am.

 

[dalton108]

1976 Oldmobile Cutlass Supreme. Silver with black crushed velvet interior.

My grandmother had one in white with white interior! Bad ass car!!! Hers was a ‘74 I believe!

You can see the back end of it in the background on the right hand side of this photo that’s me and her dad (my great grandfather) his cypress green ‘65 Oldsmobile Delta 88 (?) in the front yard and if you look real close behind his car you’ll see my mom’s burgundy Plymouth Gold Duster!

 

[canyoncarver]

It looks like you're just too sensitive to own one.
The thought also occurred that you might be a negative plant .....

For anyone else who wants to accuse me of "being a plant"....

Bonus round will be showing how many shares of $TSLA I own.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

The truth is the Cybertruck is engineered to last 1+ million miles.
Tesla doesn't advertise this revolutionary aspect of unheard of durability.

The only other vehicle to come close was the Mercedes W123 many now with 1+ million miles.
In a commercial world of 'planned obsoleteness' vehicles like this are indeed very desirable.

Ridiculous. I’ve owned six Teslas, had one of the first ‘12 MS deliveries. These things are rolling computers, akin to disposable cell phones. A five year old Tesla is obsolete, is receiving little more development, and does not wear well - they just get ratty. These things have a much shorter life expectancy than a well-made ICE vehicle - because they are essentially the automotive equivalent of a cell phone. Know anyone still using a 10-year old iPhone? No, they were orphaned years ago.

I am a happy Tesla customer, but realistic. I have paid over $100k four times for a Tesla, and over $130k twice. The first three were each sold or traded for under $30k and I still have the last one. The ‘25 CT is the best “value” of any Tesla I’ve owned, but my approach is to write all of them off the day I purchase them, like toilet paper. That way I am not disappointed with their horrible value retention. I am fully prepared for my CT to be worth $25k three years from now - because that’s the actual Tesla history despite all the fanbois on the old Tesla forums predicting value increases, collector car status, etc. They were dead wrong and the kind of thinking expressed above is equally wishful.

I do have a friend with 600k on his ‘13 MS - but he’s on his fourth high voltage battery and fifth suspension replacement. And it has zero current tech, is worth well under $10K despite costing $125k new. A Porsche of the same vintage? Worth about half the original price, four or five times as much as a Tesla of that year with an equal original MSRP. Let’s be real with our toys.

 

[JackCypher]

I was already a Tesla owner when I purchased my cyberbeast in October 2024. I expected to like it a lot, but I didn't expect to like it better than any vehicle I owned since 1978. The other vehicles are getting ignored. I absolutely love it!

..My other Cybertruck...Pinzgauer 710 Swiss Army Radio Truck.

[Not quite the same driving experience as the CT for sure...]

 

[Deleted member 22486]

I am seeing many Youtube posts making the case for the Cybertruck being a total failure and even surpassing the Edsel as the worst new car failure ever.
I have a Foundation CT on order, awaiting recall repairs for the cantrail issue so I haven't received my CT yet.
I am growing concerned that maybe this purchase is a mistake. The FUD is working.
Also, I am thinking if I hold out a little longer, until the 1st quater earnings call, maybe there will be some serious additional incentives on the CT if Tesla really does need to start moving these trucks due to super low sales and all the issues with panels falling off, etc.
I would sure appreciate the community's feedback on this.

Some of the source problems for the FUD is true. Don’t buy it or at least wait another year to do so. Also, just waiting may get you a better purchase price as Tesla gets desperate.

 

[JackCypher]

For anyone else who wants to accuse me of "being a plant"....

Bonus round will be showing how many shares of $TSLA I own.

Brother, you have our support. Don't let others make your decisions for you!.
Get the sweet finance deal and free supercharging!

 

[canyoncarver]

Brother, you have our support. Don't let others make your decisions for you!.
Get the sweet finance deal and free supercharging!

I leased it because I suspected long term resale would suck. I got the "you got bent over but hey you got it before some other people" November 2024 deal after foundation series ended.

 

[Cultmember]

It looks like you're just too sensitive to own one.
The thought also occurred that you might be a negative plant .....

Agree. You should sell it right away and move to a country that doesn't allow cybertrucks so you won't be triggered.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

It is not a flop, but if you cherry pick data is can be commented to be.

We know 3 things for fact.
1. Tesla is price positive at least on the Cyberbeast (This was mentioned by Elon at the Q3 Shareholders meeting.)
2. The CT isn't available in all the countries that you could register for it, so there is room for demand.
3. Of the 2.2 million preorders around 60% of them where for the RWD variant at $39,990. This is the biggest stickler, if people were waiting for a 60k version (Assumed with the AWD price on launch) and they now see what the RWD is going for, they may go for that price or the AWD's.

Personally I hate the price for the LR RWD. I think it shows some major weakness in COGs. The price may be an indicator of the break even point for the CT.

For 100k Trucks, the CT is 50% of sales.

for 80k Trucks the CT is 25% of sales.

36k sold in 1 year is not a lot by the Model Y standard, but it is a lot compared to Ford's F-150 Lightning and the Rivian R1T.

By ICE Truck standards it is a flop, but lets be serious it was never going to out sell the F-150 in the first few years. The Jeep Gladiator, which sold around 43,000 in 2024, is probably the closest comparison. (it's max MSRP is around 62k)

By safety standards, it is a absolute success.

By towing expectations, it is a flop. (I am an optimist that there will be a software update that give s 25% more towing range. But that may be a very hard rabbit to pull.)

If we cherry pick data is is a flop, but if all the data is taken in it can be considered a successful launch of a all new platform.

It is a complete flop as a product - and Tesla gets this - They desgned the CT plant around a 500k annual volume and can’t even acheive 50k. That’s all we need to know about it as a consumer success/failure. The CT met a fraction of its design and sales volume objectives, and 16 months after first deliveries, the verdict is fully in. I did just take delivery of mine and love it, but it is not a mainstream consumer product and never will be - despite Tesla’s original volume objectives. Too much content at too high a price. It will be interesting to see how Tesla deals with all the untaken inventory and the factory’s massive production capacity.

 

[canyoncarver]

It is a complete flop as a product - and Tesla gets this - They desgned the CT plant around a 500k annual volume and can’t even acheive 50k. That’s all we need to know about it as a consumer success/failure. The CT met a fraction of its design and sales volume objectives, and 16 months after first deliveries, the verdict is fully in. I did just take delivery of mine and love it, but it is not a mainstream consumer product and never will be - despite Tesla’s original volume objectives. Too much content at too high a price. It will be interesting to see how Tesla deals with all the untaken inventory and the factory’s massive production capacity.

That's not even close to correct. Tesla stated the initial planned production rate was 125,000 a year and they could then over time eventually grow it to a capacity of 400K units/year.

Just as the Model Y didn't instantly become the best selling vehicle in the world it will take quite some time for the CT to displace very well established and much lower priced players in the market like the F150, Tundra, etc.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

That's not even close to correct. Tesla stated the initial planned production rate was 125,000 a year and they could then over time eventually grow it to a capacity of 400K units/year.

Just as the Model Y didn't instantly become the best selling vehicle in the world it will take quite some time for the CT to displace very well established and much lower priced players in the market like the F150, Tundra, etc.

Keep at it fanboi.

That's not even close to correct. Tesla stated the initial planned production rate was 125,000 a year and they could then over time eventually grow it to a capacity of 400K units/year.

Just as the Model Y didn't instantly become the best selling vehicle in the world it will take quite some time for the CT to displace very well established and much lower priced players in the market like the F150, Tundra, etc.

Try again. https://insideevs.com/news/671258/tesla-cybertruck-release-august-375000-annually/

“At Tesla's recent Annual Shareholder meeting, Musk mentioned that Tesla would probably produce some 250,000 Cybertrucks per year. He went on to say that it really could be anywhere between 250,000 and 500,000 copies based on planned capacity”

Your comment is Austin capacity alone. And even with that, Tesla has multiples of production capacity for the CT than current demand. Every sales center has at least a dozen on the lot. Delray Beach has over 30 based on yesterday’s visit. That’s UNSOLD, orphaned CT inventory. The expected demand simply isn’t there.

 

[canyoncarver]

Keep at it fanboi.

Try again. https://insideevs.com/news/671258/tesla-cybertruck-release-august-375000-annually/

“At Tesla's recent Annual Shareholder meeting, Musk mentioned that Tesla would probably produce some 250,000 Cybertrucks per year. He went on to say that it really could be anywhere between 250,000 and 500,000 copies based on planned capacity”

Your comment is Austin capacity alone. And even with that, Tesla has multiples of production capacity for the CT than current demand. Every sales center has at least a dozen on the lot. Delray Beach has over 30 based on yesterday’s visit. That’s UNSOLD, orphaned CT inventory. The expected demand simply isn’t there.

So you know for a fact that the 30 you saw weren't sold? That's weird because Tesla normally doesn't ship inventory to delivery centers just to store them there.

Demand for the CT is soft. That's a combination of things some of which include the very high cost, the limited range when towing, and the very unconventional appearance.... also now, and unplanned for by Tesla are all the crazies who have been vandalizing and attacking CTs because of their hatred of Elon.

Tesla has a lot of demand levers they can pull to keep increasing the plant production. The RWD is just the first lever they can pull. They can introduce a shorter range version and they can potentially introduce an even further feature reduced model for other markets.

CT is a technology showcase and just because it is not immediately selling as well as Tesla had hoped does not mean that the product won't eventually be a success.

I would also watch it with the ad hominem attacks. Nobody who has followed my posts thinks I'm a "fanboi". I am long on Tesla because the products are cutting edge and I'm a big fan of technology. While there are things about my CT I'd like to see changed, overall the product is pretty incredible, even at the high asking price.

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