During Tesla’s Q2 2022 financial report (opens in new tab), Musk said that the automaker is “still expecting to be in production with the Cybertruck in middle [sic] of next year.” The CEO took another opportunity to hype the truck, saying that Tesla is “very excited about that product. It might actually be our best product ever.” Musk didn’t elaborate further, but if production is still on track for mid-2023 production, the first deliveries won’t be too far behind. How this all hinges on there not being any more delays, and delays are all too common in the development of brand new Tesla vehicles. The Cybertruck is one key example, and will be almost two years overdue if it does launch in mid-2023. The Tesla Semi and second generation Tesla Roadster are also still missing, despite being announced in 2016 and 2017, respectively. In the case of the Cybertruck supply chain issues and manufacturing difficulties have played a big part in the delays. It’s been so hard to obtain parts that the company had to choose between launching the Cybertruck and growing its existing production capacity. Considering some Tesla wait times are pretty extreme right now, picking the latter was probably the wise choice. Similarly, the Cybertruck’s unique design and all-steel construction meant existing manufacturing techniques wouldn’t work. Perfecting this also took time, and added to the truck’s lengthy development. However, Musk said that the Cybertruck will benefit from what Tesla has learned, in terms of production efficiency. ““We’ll bring another level of simplicity and manufacturing improvements with Cybertruck and future products that we’re not quite ready to talk about now,” Musk said, “but that I think will be very exciting to unveil in the future.” Hopefully Tesla can get things rolling fairly quickly, because the electric truck business is heating up. Not only are trucks like the Rivian R1t and Ford F-150 Lightning already on the road, there’s also plenty of competition on the way. The Chevy Silverado EV, Toyota Tacoma EV, Lordstown Endurance and more. The Cybertruck’s key advantage is the Tesla brand power, since the company is practically synonymous with electric cars. It’s also set to offer up to 500 miles of range, a 0-60 mph time of under 2.9 seconds, and Tesla’s Autopilot system. It also has a unique design that will definitely stand out on the road. So if you like attention, a vehicle shaped like a ‘90s video game asset is going to be appealing. So it’s no huge surprise that the truck has already been incredibly popular. Elon Musk even claimed that there were enough pre-orders to fulfil at least three years of production capacity (opens in new tab). So things are looking good for Tesla’s crazy-looking metal monster. Read next: Tesla Superchargers just hit a new milestone, and it shows how far EV charging has come
