Turns Out, Tesla’s Cybertruck Is a Hit

The Tesla Cybertruck has been controversial since a prototype was unveiled in 2019. It’s oddly shaped, hard to manufacture, expensive —and a hit.

In the third quarter, Tesla sold 16,692 Cybertrucks in the U.S., giving it almost 50% market share of EV trucks. Its competition includes the Chevy Silverado, GMC’s Hummer and Denali, Rivian Automotive and Ford F-150 Lightning.

What’s more, the average transaction price for a Cybertruck in September was a whopping $116,706, according to Kelley Blue Book despite “more than 5,000 Cybertrucks were sold in September.”

Selling that much volume of a car that expensive isn’t typical. Only about 3% to 4% of the entire U.S. market for new cars cost above $100,000, according to Freedom Capital Markets analyst Mike Ward.

That gives the Tesla Cybertruck a roughly 10% market share of the high-price new car segment. Through September, Tesla’s 2024 market share of all new U.S. car sales was about 4%.

Cybertruck has had an impressive start. That doesn’t mean the final judgment on Elon Musk’s avant-garde pickup is in. Cybertruck sales have been undeniably impressive to this point, but it will face some important upcoming tests. What’s more, Tesla still needs a different model to boost sales growth substantially.

The next challenge for Cybertruck is selling more lower-priced units. The tri-motor “Cyberbeast” starts at about $95,000. (Options push up average transaction prices.) The all-wheel drive version starts at about $75,000. A rear-wheel drive version that is set to start at about $60,000 isn’t available for sale yet. (Tesla is rightly building the more expensive, higher profit versions first.)

Eventually, Tesla wants to make 250,000 Cybertrucks a year. It needs all trim levels to hit that amount.

As for more models, Tesla is due to launch its lower-priced EV, often called the Model 2, in 2025. That opens up more of the auto market to the company. Cars and smaller SUVs costing less than $40,000 make up roughly half of the new car market.

Investors hope the Model 2 boosts stagnant sales growth. In the first three quarters of 2024, Tesla delivered about 1.2 million cars, down about 2% from the same time last year. Wall Street projects about 1.8 million deliveries in 2024, essentially flat with 2023.

Looking ahead, Wall Street projects about 2 million units delivered in 2025. That number likely includes more Cybertrucks and some Model 2 EVs.

Coming into Monday trading, Tesla stock was down about 11% year to date, trailing the S&P 500 by about 34 percentage points. Declining sales volume has weighed on investor sentiment.