Is Tesla Cybertruck not selling well? The price should be raised by $15,000

Against the backdrop of a drop in Cybertruck sales Tesla has raised the price of its most expensive modification of the Cybertruck Cyberbeast by $15 thousand. The company has added some software and service “bonuses” to this version, which are included in a package called the Luxe Package. As a result, the top-of-the-line Cybertruck now costs $45 thousand more than the company promised at the time of the model’s premiere.

Tesla’s difficulties with sales

Company sales continue to fall in most markets for the second year in a row. This is happening despite the general increase in interest in electric vehicles. As sales fall, so do profits. In the near future, Tesla may lose another important source of income, which brought in billions of dollars and often became almost the only factor of profitability.

The situation is exacerbated by the lack of new models. The latest restylings have not had a tangible effect, and the only truly new model in recent years, the Cybertruck, has been performing very poorly on the market.

Tesla’s strategy: raising prices

Instead of releasing a new affordable car or revising questionable management decisions, the company decided to bet on raising the prices of its most expensive models.

Last week, Tesla has already raised the price of the aging Model S and Model X by $10 thousand. Both models received the aforementioned Luxe Package, which includes:

• FSD (Full Self-Driving) system;
• tire protection package;
• access to the Supercharger network;
• Premium Connectivity service.

Now the price of the top version of Plaid starts at $115 thousand.

Cybertruck price increase

Now Cybertruck has been added to this strategy. The top version of the Cyberbeast also went up to $115 thousand (+$15 thousand), but it received the same additional services from the Luxe Package. In the case of Model S, this package “cost” $10 thousand, while for Cybertruck it cost customers $15 thousand.

The Cybertruck is offered in three configurations, each of which is equipped with the same battery but differs in the number of electric motors, which provides different dynamics. The top version of the Cyberbeast has:

• three electric motors;
• pulling force of 5000 kg;
• carrying capacity of 1030 kg.

These figures are lower than Tesla promised during the presentation. However, Cyberbeast demonstrates impressive dynamics: 0-96 km/h acceleration in 2.6 seconds. This makes it one of the fastest pickups on the market and puts it on par with the new Rivian R1T Quad Max. Moreover, it surpasses most sports cars in terms of dynamics.

The new price tag of $115 thousand looks especially contrasting to the company’s initial announcements. When the Cybertruck was announced, Tesla promised a base version for $40 thousand and a top three-engine version for $70 thousand. That is, the price of the Cyberbeast has now increased by $45 thousand compared to what was promised. The base version now starts at $70 thousand, which is also significantly more expensive than the initially announced amount.

It is likely that this is one of the reasons why Cybertruck sales are far from expectations. Previously, Tesla planned to produce and sell up to 250 thousand pickups per year, but now actual sales are about 5 thousand units per quarter.

In this situation, another price increase is unlikely to have a positive impact on sales. Nevertheless, given that the Luxe Package mostly consists of software options and deferred costs, the company may get a small short-term margin increase. This allows Tesla to at least partially offset losses amid the risk of falling to unprofitability.

Source: electrek