Elon Musk says Tesla will sell its electric car next year

The automaker’s CEO, Elon Musk, said late Thursday that Tesla will begin production of its much-delayed electric truck, the Cybertruck, next year along with several other new products.

The truck, with its angular design and stainless steel leatherette that distinguishes it from traditional pickup trucks, has been delayed after an unfortunate accident. disclosed in 2019, When a designer threw a metal ball at a window in what was supposed to be a display of the car’s durability.

Instead, the window cracked.

“We’re going to smash the window again,” Musk joked, as a Cybertruck rolled onto a stage at Tesla’s lavish “Cyber ​​Rodeo” in Austin, Texas, to showcase its newly built factory near the state capital.

“We can’t wait to build this here,” Mr. Musk, who was wearing a black cowboy hat, said of the truck. “Sorry for being late. But you will have this next year, and it will be really cool.”

The Tesla CEO has a long history of promising products coming true later than he said will or not at all, but his timeline for Cybertruck is more specific than the one he presented to investors in January, when he said deliveries in 2023 were “on Most likely.”

The delay in production of the Cybertruck allowed competitors to reach the market sooner with pickup trucks, one of the most popular types of vehicles in the United States. Ford is expected to begin delivering the Lightning, a battery-powered version of the F-150, this summer. RivianThe electric pickup went on sale late last year to elicit comments, but the company has run into trouble with ramping up production, a common problem for new car companies.

Tesla invited about 15,000 people to the Cyber ​​Rodeo, which Mr Musk described, with habitual exaggeration, as “the biggest party on Earth”. He said the factory was as big as three quintuples.

Local schools closed early so parents could avoid traffic jams caused by those flocking to the event, the TV station KXAN mentioned. Actor Harrison Ford was among the guests. Tesla parked red, white, and blue cars in formation to look like the Texas state flag.

The plant is part of a global expansion by Tesla that includes a newly opened factory near it Berlin. Combined with a Shanghai-based plant, new assembly lines could help the company replicate its growth in 2021, when it nearly doubled sales to nearly a million vehicles, outpacing other major automakers.

“This year it’s all about expansion,” said Mr. Musk. “Next year, there will be a huge wave of new products.”

In 2023, Tesla will also produce a roadster, semi-truck and “hopefully” the first version of a human-like robot called Optimus, which Mr Musk said would do “anything humans don’t want to do”. He added that a beta version of the fully autonomous driving program will be available to North American customers this year.