Credit: Brooke Crothers
The Tesla Cybertruck is starting to rack up sales gains despite its high price, availability, and a production-halting glitch.
Tesla sold 1,158 Cybertrucks in March, according to S&P Global Mobility (via Automotive News), beating the Rivian R1T pickup by more than 2 to 1 with 548 registrations. This is up from a mere 28 Cybertruck registrations in December. “The Cybertruck is an extremely unusual unique product,” Tom Libby, an analyst at S&P Global Mobility, told me in a phone interview. “Partially because it’s Tesla but also because of its unique design. So within its category of luxury, full size pickups, it’s doing very well,” he said. This uptick in Cybertruck registrations is happening despite a recent recall and a reported temporary halt of production in April (WSJ) that has limited sales. The surge in registrations should continue as monthly production rates continue to rise against a backdrop of a large pool of reservation holders. Tesla said it produced over 1,000 Cybertrucks in a single week in April when it announced earnings last month. While the new rear-wheel drive Cybertruck starts at $60,990 on Tesla’s website, only the higher-priced trims are shown as deliverable — the all-wheel drive model at $79,990, and the Cyberbeast model, priced at $99,990.
The EV competition — Ford F-150 Lighting and Hummer EV deals: Rivian is fading somewhat as it shifts its focus from the R1T pickup to the R1S SUV. Sales of the R1T pickup plunged 47.5% in the first quarter to 3,261 units from 6,213 in the same quarter of last year, while sales of the R1S shot up 588.7% to 8,017 from 1,164 in the same period last year, according to Kelley Blue Book. That leaves Ford F-150 Lightning as the 800 pound gorilla in the EV pickup market. The Lightning has been leading in monthly sales for almost two years now, according to S&P Global Mobility. And it beat the Cybertruck handily in March with 2,893 registrations in March. Ford is now offering 0% financing for 60 months on the Lightning combined with a $7,500 tax incentive (via CarsDirect). The Hummer EV, not to be outdone, is now being offered with a $0 down lease. “GM’s lease incentives for the Hummer have improved quite a bit over the past several months, resulting in some surprising quirks,” said Alex Bernstein Senior Manager, Content & Web Ops at CarsDirect. “Last month, our analysis found that a $100,000 Hummer could be $34,000 more expensive than a Ford Lightning but $108 per month cheaper to lease,” he said.