Aftermarket prices could fall further as Tesla now begins delivering a new model worth $79,990 to reservation holders. Not that there's a need to place reservations anymore: North American Tesla stores are now accepting walk-in orders for Cybertrucks, with delivery two or three weeks later. “I'm calling it: the original reservation list is basically done,” reservations agent BayouCityBob said at a Cybertruck owners forum last month. Tesla had claimed to have reserved more than a million pre-launch reservations of $100 for the Cybertruck.
'I thought I'd have to wait a few more minutes [years] before my time comes,” MC1987 responded to BayouCityBob, citing his invitation to purchase his second Cybertruck (the poster had returned their first, a top-spec Cyberbeast, due to alleged “build quality issues.”) “This is so wild ,” they said.
Because most other parts of the world have not yet approved Cybertruck sales, Tesla cannot drive adoption outside North America. British car classifieds website Carwow describes the Cybertruck as a “rolling axe-head,” a nod to the fact that the sharp-angled pickup is literally too sharp to meet strict European pedestrian safety regulations.
Tesla also can't rely on the American consumer's love affair with pickups. “About 70 percent of all truck sales involve a trade-in,” Drury says. “This is not the case [the Cybertruck]” he revealed, using Edmunds trade-in data.
“Although Cybertruck hasn't been on the market long, it has been long enough that we were able to capture some used units. Since there are no signs of Cybertrucks being swapped for trucks – which is what we typically see in America – this is likely not a vehicle that will be used for truck-like purposes,” says Drury.
While the six Cybertruck recalls this year may not alarm 'edgy' consumers, the bad press that often results won't impress Tesla shareholders – higher-than-average recalls could tarnish the larger brand.
A spike in car recalls should not necessarily worry consumers, as the severity of the defects varies widely, and very few of them consist of stop-sell orders or demands to immediately stop driving a particular model . Automakers may hate filing them, but recalls show that the regulatory system is working as intended.
But with Musk advising the government — even at arm's length — some regulators could clip their wings, perhaps even reducing the number of product recalls, potentially increasing the danger to consumers. But not all Cybertruck owners will care about that.
