The Cybertruck Cost in Perspective

[Griswold]

Not a bad theory with the AWD Luxe ~$95k. I just wonder if they'll continue offering the 0% financing.

That's tough to pass up on, effectively makes FSD $3.5k to buy outright on a 60 month loan, plus interest free financing

They don't offer it on S and X, which other trim pricings align currently.

What's your calc on the $3.5k FSD?

I ran some numbers on how much I'll save by keeping the $80k in HYSA for 5 years and it was something like $6500 in interest. Very ballpark, and who knows where savings rates will go, but made the decision easier.

Sponsored

 

[cybertruck612]

They don't offer it on S and X, which other trim pricings align currently.

What's your calc on the $3.5k FSD?

I ran some numbers on how much I'll save by keeping the $80k in HYSA for 5 years and it was something like $6500 in interest. Very ballpark, and who knows where savings rates will go, but made the decision easier.

The difference in monthly payments for 60 months at 0% w/ FSD purchase vs 60 months at 2.49% w/out FSD purchase equates to roughly $3.5k more total cost to purchase with FSD. At least I think that was mentioned in another thread.

 

[Griswold]

The difference in monthly payments for 60 months at 0% w/ FSD purchase vs 60 months at 2.49% w/out FSD purchase equates to roughly $3.5k more total cost to purchase with FSD. At least I think that was mentioned in another thread.

Ah ok I didn't look at it that way.

I'd rather pay per month whenever I need it but 0% was too hard to pass by.

 

[Spartacus]

They don't offer it on S and X, which other trim pricings align currently.

What's your calc on the $3.5k FSD?

I ran some numbers on how much I'll save by keeping the $80k in HYSA for 5 years and it was something like $6500 in interest. Very ballpark, and who knows where savings rates will go, but made the decision easier.

It can be far better than that if you look around for the right investment. This is what made me buy a month ago:
Not counting the tax break the AWD is 80K plus 8K to get 0 % plus tax.
94K my price with FL tax.
Even tho credit rating is 830 they would not cover it all. So I had to write a check for 16K.
Take the difference, 78K and put it in a Pimco bond fund that makes a 13% yearly interest (PDI if anyone asks) for the 5 year duration of loan. With monthly compounding this 78K earns almost 71K before taxes. The Cybertruck almost buys itself.

 

[DJAlan2000]

Yeah, that's a another DEMO vehicle... Not a brand new one... BUT I have to say, it's really low mileage (127 mi)... But still, not 'brand new'...

 

[Spartacus]

What are you talking about? Is it reality, based on facts, or fantasy, based on other people's Tesla hate?

We have volumes of pedestrian impact data to look at. The vehicle metric most highly correlated to pedestrian outcomes is not how well it crumples (legacy trucks have very little give in pedestrian impacts and many sharp edges to cut you with when that plastic grill shatters). Flesh is very soft. The metric most highly correlated to favorable pedestrian impact outcomes is hood height. The lower the better.

Legacy pickup trucks are legal in most developed nations, and they all have higher hood heights than the Cybertruck. This is what causes fatal head injuries during pedestrian impacts. I would much rather get scooped up the windshield than "splat" against the vertical front of a Ram pickup (see, they even call it a "Ram").

No one is actually worried whether a Ford GM or Tesla pickup is more lethal to pedestrians, they just want to invent fake reasons why the Cybertruck is not as good. Because there are very few real reasons to support that narrative.

Ok my response was a bit tongue in cheek, sorry. BUT I do find the odd eyeball stuck on the sharp corners of the rear end.

 

[HaulingAss]

It can be far better than that if you look around for the right investment. This is what made me buy a month ago:
Not counting the tax break the AWD is 80K plus 8K to get 0 % plus tax.
94K my price with FL tax.
Even tho credit rating is 830 they would not cover it all. So I had to write a check for 16K.
Take the difference, 78K and put it in a Pimco bond fund that makes a 13% yearly interest (PDI if anyone asks) for the 5 year duration of loan. With monthly compounding this 78K earns almost 71K before taxes. The Cybertruck almost buys itself.

Are you new to this?

The Pimco Bond Fund does not protect your principle and the monthly return cannot be assumed to maintain over the 5 year duration you analyzed. That current 13% return could easily drop to half that after purchase (combined with a corresponding crash in the value of the principal).

40% of the fund is in mortgage backed securities and would be hammered hard if the mortgage default rate climbs substantially. It never ceases to amaze me how financial types sell these things as secure investments that keep your principal secure. I'm not opposed to taking bigger risks to get bigger returns but you speak as if it's a sure thing.

I'm not saying it couldn't be a good investment, I'm saying your analysis is speculative. No one knows what the future returns will be, and I would be willing to bet a lot of money that, over 5 years, the total returns, including a likely loss of a portion of the principle, will be nowhere close to what you are projecting. Also, the expense ratio of 2.2% is quite high for what it is (and you forgot to deduct the taxes on the dividends).

 

[Spartacus]

Are you new to this?

The Pimco Bond Fund does not protect your principle and the monthly return cannot be assumed to maintain over the 5 year duration you analyzed. That current 13% return could easily drop to half that after purchase (combined with a corresponding crash in the value of the principal).

40% of the fund is in mortgage backed securities and would be hammered hard if the mortgage default rate climbs substantially. It never ceases to amaze me how financial types sell these things as secure investments that keep your principal secure. I'm not opposed to taking bigger risks to get bigger returns but you speak as if it's a sure thing.

I'm not saying it couldn't be a good investment, I'm saying your analysis is speculative. No one knows what the future returns will be, and I would be willing to bet a lot of money that, over 5 years, the total returns, including a likely loss of a portion of the principle, will be nowhere close to what you are projecting. Also, the expense ratio of 2.2% is quite high for what it is (and you forgot to deduct the taxes on the dividends).

Not new to this but thanks for your concern. To have money make an income I've done many investment strategies. After doing covered calls on holdings it's getting tiring to be in front of a computer for hours.
The money men at Pimco are certainly better traders than me. The 3 principals in PDI have been there since inception -2012 to be exact. They have manuvered thru tough times like the 2020 crash and high interest rates proving they know what they are doing. Thru inception they have increased the dividend a few times, never lowering it. I get 22 cents per share every month, a bit better than 13%. The price can wiggle around all it wants, I still get my 22 cents.
They leverage 30%, they shop the world for deals, they spread their risk over 1 yr to 10 yr terms.
Yes Pimco charges a fee to do what they do, I'm all for everyone making profit. The best lawyer is the high priced one, not the cheaper per hour guy that churns the hell out of you.

The interest rate environment is going lower, this is good for bonds. I'm not in favor of this cuz it gooses the price of bonds for those buying later on... lowering yield for them.

You are welcome to your bank rate or treasuries at 1-2-3 % maybe but there are better ways. Speculation? of course. My Cybertruck is speculation if Tesla drops it due to lowering sales.

 

[HaulingAss]

Not new to this but thanks for your concern. To have money make an income I've done many investment strategies. After doing covered calls on holdings it's getting tiring to be in front of a computer for hours.
The money men at Pimco are certainly better traders than me. The 3 principals in PDI have been there since inception -2012 to be exact. They have manuvered thru tough times like the 2020 crash and high interest rates proving they know what they are doing. Thru inception they have increased the dividend a few times, never lowering it. I get 22 cents per share every month, a bit better than 13%. The price can wiggle around all it wants, I still get my 22 cents.
They leverage 30%, they shop the world for deals, they spread their risk over 1 yr to 10 yr terms.
Yes Pimco charges a fee to do what they do, I'm all for everyone making profit. The best lawyer is the high priced one, not the cheaper per hour guy that churns the hell out of you.

The interest rate environment is going lower, this is good for bonds. I'm not in favor of this cuz it gooses the price of bonds for those buying later on... lowering yield for them.

You are welcome to your bank rate or treasuries at 1-2-3 % maybe but there are better ways. Speculation? of course. My Cybertruck is speculation if Tesla drops it due to lowering sales.

I'm not criticizing your investment, I'm criticizing the way you presented it as a sure thing. And if you think the dividend cannot change from 22 cents a share, you are simply wrong. And the value of the principle can do more than "wiggle around", you can easily and suddenly lose 10%, 25%, 50% of your principle (even if they tell you that's highly unlikely or even impossible). I agree, it's unlikely, I disagree it's impossible. The nature of this kind of investment is that everything appears dandy, until it's not. The best traders in the world cannot fix a disruption in the mortgage market. The last time that happened was 2008/2009, before the fund was formed.

It doesn't make it a bad investment, depending upon your objectives, it simply means it's not as you presented it. And, no, I don't have any treasuries, all my liquid investments are in stocks, mostly growth companies. They are riskier, but my average returns are higher.

 

[roadrunner32]

If I may chirp in here 612? I'd go for the zero interest FSD deal if you can get it. I did the number crunch, the result was that there is a CT in the garage as of a month ago. Now in your case the 7500 tax deal ends in a couple days so you might want to wait to see if Tesla does some other incentive after Sept 30?

I did what you did and no regrets, especially the self driving now version 14.1.7 is fantastic..

 

[TJCJr9999]

We're soon coming up on the two-year anniversary since the production release of the Cybertruck. After four long years of waiting, during which the world tilted sideways, that iconic event held millions of us in its thrall.

That reveal held an almost rapturous joy in what the Cybertruck had become, bringing technologies and features few of us had imagined. But, then, at the end, it bludgeoned us with the shock of how the price had, likewise, grown wings.

Most of us bailed at that point. $100K for the cheap version wasn't a bridge too far. It was a different dimension altogether.

Me, I needed a truck. I wandered back to the ICE world and spent months researching what my options might be, bookended by the Ford Maverick on one end and the Ford F-150 Raptor on the other. The singular takeaway was that everything - literally everything - cost way more than it used to.

And so when that long-awaited (and somewhat dreaded) email from Tesla arrived, I reversed course once again, walking numbly into that new dimension.

It was a decision I have never once regretted.

But, yeah, we still hear frequent comments complaining about how much the Cybertruck costs. Here's a quick little video from the ICE world that maybe puts that in perspective a little.

For those of us who have been driving 4x4s since the 1970's, I stopped pricing them a long time ago, all major OEM 4x4s (F150, Tundra, 1500, etc) are all the same price, in the $70k-$100k range, which makes "brands" the most important thing in a truck person's mind. So my beast is no more expensive then any other truck...........and I'm never going back to gas/diesel ever again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[HaulingAss]

For those of us who have been driving 4x4s since the 1970's, I stopped pricing them a long time ago, all major OEM 4x4s (F150, Tundra, 1500, etc) are all the same price, in the $70k-$100k range, which makes "brands" the most important thing in a truck person's mind. So my beast is no more expensive then any other truck...........and I'm never going back to gas/diesel ever again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Exactly! I've been saying this since the higher pricing was announced in 2023. The Cybertruck is a screamingly good value, the primary issue is that many people can't afford (or don't want to pay for) a brand new 4x4 pickup. Many who do want to spend the money have been told it's not a real truck. Never mind that it has a 2500 lb. payload capacity, more bed volume than the most popular pickup truck configurations, and drives great fully loaded.

Sponsored