Tesla design boss Franz von Holzhausen was present at the California College of Design in Pasadena alumni show earlier this week alongside what appears to be the original Cybertruck concept from 2019. The truck was displayed on campus next to other vehicles whose design was significant, but it surely drew in a big crowd, especially since it appeared to be open and you could also see its interior.
This could very well be the exact same vehicle whose supposedly unbreakable windows broke when Elon Musk tried to demonstrate this feature at the unveiling. Since then, Tesla has shown several increasingly advanced prototypes, getting ever closer to the finished production form.
The most recent prototype spotted was an example that had seen a few miles and appeared quite beat-up, presumably from testing; it also had some equipment placed on on its hood and above its front right wheel, confirming that it was a working prototype. On the front, it looked like it had a pair of either sensors or cameras (more likely the latter given Tesla’s recent move away from radar), and these could presumably be for autonomous driving testing.
Production of the Tesla Cybertruck is expected to begin in 2023, with deliveries starting around the middle of the year. The manufacturer is reportedly currently tooling in preparation for Cybertruck production at its Texas factory, the only location where it will be made; the same factory also makes the Model Y crossover.
Tesla has not shared any projected sales numbers for the Cybertruck, but with a claimed 1-million reservations under its belt, the automaker is confident it can sell as many as it can make. Giga Texas will be able to produce up to 500,000 vehicles annually, and considering that 250,000 of them will be Model Ys, we can get an idea of how many Cybertrucks will be built here.
When it comes to pricing, the base single-motor model should be $40,000, while the tri-motor performance model will probably cost around $70,000. Elon Musk said late last year that the truck would also be available with a quad-motor powertrain, which along with rear-wheel steering needed extra engineering time and this is one of the reasons behind the delayed launch.
