Elon Musk Reiterates That the Cybertruck Has an Exoskeleton, Will Be an Expensive Truck

Tesla Cyber Roundup was an almost two-hour chit-chat session with Elon Musk taking the stage for the most part. People who expected more detail about the company's operations were disappointed, although the shareholder sentiment was mostly positive. Musk conceded that "a little advertising" might actually be good for the company, making the crowd cheer. After talking about Tesla's assets and warning about the difficult economic conditions in the next 12 months, Musk brought up the Cybertruck, the most important Tesla product expected to ship this year.

After long delays, the unorthodox pickup truck is slated to start test production this summer. Musk explained that producing the Cybertruck proved harder than expected. Tesla is changing many things with the pickup truck, starting with the manufacturing process, the vehicle architecture, and its unique design. The latter proved polarizing, being criticized by many who saw the latest prototypes on video. Still, the real-life appearance of the production Cybertruck at the Cyber Roundup was unanimously praised.

As Musk explained during the meeting, the unique design comes with inherent challenges for the Tesla team. Manufacturing had to be re-imagined because the conventional production technique wouldn't work. Musk reiterated that the Cybertruck has a stainless-steel exoskeleton, dismissing previous speculations. "We had to invent a whole new set of manufacturing techniques in order to build an exoskeleton-based car instead of an endoskeleton-based car," Musk said during the event.

However, the wait will be well worth it, and the Cybertruck will be "better than expected" when it starts deliveries later this year. Musk also hyped the electric pickup saying that it would be the car that he'll be driving on a day-to-day basis. Asked about the sales plans for the electric pickup, Musk said that the production would follow an S curve, with 250,000-500,000 units per year possible, depending on demand. To get there, Tesla will have to improve production and, above all, production efficiency.

Musk suggested that the Cybertruck would not be cheap, so the initial price projections might have been way off. It will probably be more toward the $100K threshold than the $50,000 estimated four years ago when the Cybertruck was announced. The reason is the new manufacturing method, with many things that Tesla needed to develop from scratch. Not only the manufacturing but also many components will be developed in-house, considering the new 48-volt electrical system that nobody uses now.

This is why Tesla has to make its own accessories for the Cybertruck and has already set up a dedicated team working on that. Still, Musk denied any plans for a Cybertruck-based RV. He pointed out that the accessory ecosystem will offer plenty of camping gear to make it the perfect camper. Tesla will also add attachment points to the truck, so third-party companies can add accessories to expand the Cybertruck functionality.