Elon Musk: Tesla aims to complete Cybertruck development this year for production in 2023

Elon Musk made a new comment about the Tesla Cybertruck, which recently took a backseat, and said that the automaker aims to complete Cybertruck development this year for production in 2023.

When Tesla unveiled the Cybertruck back in 2019, Tesla said that the electric pickup truck would make it to market by the end of 2021. As the deadline was approaching, the automaker confirmed that production slipped to 2022.

CEO Elon Musk later said that Tesla was targeting a start of production for the electric pickup truck in “late 2022” at Gigafactory Texas. With the focus clearly on bringing the Model Y to production at the factory, and that being delayed as well, it appeared likely that the Cybertruck production timeline could also slip.

During Tesla’s last earnings report in January, Musk gave an update confirming that Tesla wouldn’t launch the Cybertruck or any new vehicle in 2022.

The CEO remained vague when it comes to the electric pickup truck and only said that it would “hopefully come next year” – meaning in 2023.

Since then, there have been rumors that Tesla is planning to start production of the Cybertruck in early 2023.

During an event for the start of Model Y deliveries at Gigafactory Berlin, Musk was asked by an employee about Tesla’s short-term goals. Musk reiterated that Tesla’s focus this year is to ramp up production of current vehicle programs, especially Model Y and Model 3, but he also offered a rare comment on Cybertruck.

Musk said that Tesla aims to complete the development of the Cybertruck this year for production in 2023:

“We want to complete the development of Cybertruck this year and be ready for production next year.”

While the comment doesn’t confirm it, it works with the rumored timeline of a start of production in early 2023.

The CEO also said that Tesla is aiming to complete engineering on the new Roadster this year and hopes to get enough batteries to be able to produce more Tesla Semi trucks.

Those comments come after Musk surprisingly said that Tesla is shifting its product development priority to its Optimus humanoid robot in 2022.

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