Tesla is big on dynamically changing its pricing, raising or lowering costs to boost sales or extract more profit as the company needs. It also has a history of scrapping the base models of its vehicles after advertising their accessibility with a low introductory price. Now, it seems the company has put the two together, and cut out the Cybertruck’s base trim while raising the price of all others by $20,000.
Just four days ago, on August 5, you could place an order for any of three Cyebrtruck trims: The $60,990 Rear-Wheel Drive, the $79,990 All-Wheel Drive, and the $99,990 Cyberbeast, according to an archived version of Tesla’s site. Now, though, all those numbers have changed. The Cyberbeast is now $119,990, the All-Wheel-Drive costs $99,990, and the Rear-Wheel Drive has quietly disappeared. Prospective buyers eyeing a base-model Cybertruck will now have to shell out an additional $39,000 just to get their foot in the door.
The change was first noticed over on Reddit, but it can be confirmed by scanning through saved versions of Tesla’s page. Interestingly, the pricing and trim level availability aren’t the only changes made to the Cybertruck lineup — Tesla now claims that buyers of All-Wheel Drive and Cyberbeast trims can get their trucks this year, rather than the prior estimate of 2025.
Tesla has unsold cars piling up everywhere it can store them, but the company’s arcane delivery reporting makes it difficult to determine whether the shift in Cybertruck delivery estimates corresponds to existing unsold inventory. Given the sheer number of issues faced by early buyers, however, and the new estimates saying All-Wheel Drive trucks can be had as soon as this month, it does lead one to wonder if some of that availability comes from canceled preorders.
Tesla may be slowing in sales thanks to its not-founder’s increasingly unhinged beliefs, but it seems the company still thinks it can squeeze Cybertruck buyers for tens of thousands of dollars extra. It’s a bold strategy, Cotton, let’s see if it pays for them.