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Elon Musk Says Tesla Cybertruck Won’t Come Out This Year: Here’s Why

If you were hoping to buy yourself a Tesla Cybertruck, you’re going to have to wait.

During Tesla’s fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Elon Musk announced that the company won’t release any new models this year. And on top of that, it won’t develop a $25,000 car either—at least, not yet.

So what’s the reason behind the sudden pause? Once again, it has to do with supply chain issues. We’re starting to feel like a broken record.

In Tesla’s case, the continuing chip shortage is causing major issues. Because there are so few available, it would be impossible to debut a new model without having to seriously reduce the supply.

“If we had introduced say a new car last year, we would — total vehicle output would have been the same because of the constraints — the chips’ constraints particularly.” Musk said, “So, we will not be introducing new vehicle levels this year. It would not make any sense.”

Halting production on the Cybertruck will likely give Ford an advantage in the electric pickup market because the company is still planning on rolling out its fully electric F-150 Lighting pickup during the first half of 2022.

And General Motors will also benefit from the decision because it released the GMC Hummer EV just last month. And, of course, that re-envisioned classic is also fully electric.

Tesla will Table the $25,000 Model

There have also been rumors about a more affordable Tesla model hitting the market, too. Bad sadly, Elon Musk will be tabling the concept.

“We’re not currently working on the $25,000 car,” Musk admitted. ” At some point, we will. We have enough on our plate right now. Too much on our plate, frankly.”

In 2018, Musk suggested that a bargain model was possible. But he said it would take his company about three years to develop the car. Then in 2020, he once again brought up the idea during a shareholder’s meeting, and he said the company would likely launch the model within the new few years.

“About three years from now, we’re confident we can make a very compelling $25,000 electric vehicle that’s also fully autonomous,” he said in the meeting, which proved that the company was behind on the promise.

Bernstein Senior Analyst Toni M. Sacconaghi Jr. suggested pausing the release could affect Tesla’s overall sales goals.

“If there is no $25,000 vehicle being worked on, is it really realistic to think that you can sell more than 3 million vehicles with 2 very high volume cars and Cybertruck in 2024?” he asked.

Elon Musk responded by saying that his upcoming driverless technology would make the company so appealing that they’d reach their goals with or without a more affordable model.

So what will Tesla do with its time now that the Cybertruck is paused? According to Musk, his engineers will spend their time developing robotaxis and a humanoid robot named Optimus.