Tesla Cybertruck goes into production two years behind schedule

Almost four years after Elon Musk first unveiled Tesla Inc.’s debut pickup, the automaker has built its first Cybertruck.

Tesla shared the development on its Twitter account, posting a photo of workers in vests and helmets gathered around the vehicle. When Musk first showed a prototype of the wedge-shaped pickup in November 2019, the plan was for production to start two years later.

Musk has tempered expectations for how quickly Tesla will ramp up production, saying during the company’s annual meeting in May that the truck’s radical design poses challenges. He’s said the body of the pickup will be stainless steel, which can be expensive and difficult to shape and weld.

"We’ll make as many as people want and can afford,” Musk said. "It’s going to be hard to make the cost affordable because it is a new car, new manufacturing method. So in the grand scheme of things, relative to the production rate of all the other cars we make, it will be small. But it’s still very cool.”