Hold your horses. There are many explanations here.
New video footage from an assembly line in Texas appears to show the Tesla Cybertruck finally entering production. The brief six-second clip and accompanying photos were shared on the Tesla Cybertruck Owners Club forums by user Greggertruck. In the video, we can see Kuka robot arms assembling a vehicle that clearly looks like the Cybertruck based on the windshield angle. Two additional photos reveal a “Cyber Bin” for parts, including a stainless steel body panel.
As a reminder, the Cybertruck is scheduled to enter production later this year at Tesla's Gigafactory Texas, but the project has already been pushed back several times since it was first revealed in late 2019. So does this new footage finally prove that the long-awaited electric pickup will be ready by the end of 2023? We hate to burst the bubble of the estimated 1.5 million reservation holders out there, but this is not definitive proof.
While this new evidence could hint that the Cybertruck is indeed in series production, it more likely only proves that the vehicle is in pre-production. For those who are unaware of how vehicle development cycles operate, automakers typically build multiple phases of pre-production vehicles for testing before a product is ready to go on sale to the public. The pre-production stage can often be broken down into sub-stages for initial fitment evaluation, government required crash testing and quality evaluation, and pilot production to make sure the manufacturing process is ready for mass production.
Automakers historically enjoy sharing when a highly anticipated vehicle enters series production, and we doubt Tesla would be the exception. When the Cybertruck is almost ready for customers, we will hear about it from Tesla.
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As for these clips, they do show that Tesla is making some progress on Cybertruck production. Whether or not the Texas-based automaker can scale it up to mass production by the end of this calendar year is still unclear. Tesla has been spotted testing multiple Cybertruck prototypes out on the public road, some of which have been seen wearing a new camouflage wrap. Some of the early test mules were reportedly riddled with quality issues, so the appearance of these prototypes doesn't prove that the project is nearing completion.
We will continue to provide any new updates on what is easily the most highly anticipated automotive product of the decade.
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Keyword: Is The Tesla Cybertruck FINALLY In Production?