The Tesla Cybertruck, Roadster, and Semi have officially been delayed.
Elon Musk this morning confirmed Tesla won’t be introducing any new vehicles during 2022, due to fears a new model rollout would force it to cut overall production.
Reports have previously indicated delays were likely for the Cybertruck, as Tesla adds features that will bring it more closely into line with its American pickup truck rivals.
Mr Musk also stopped short of confirming the hotly-anticipated Cybertruck ute and Roadster sports car will come next year, telling investors and media the new cars are “hopefully” coming in 2023.
If it launches in 2023, the Cybertruck will be at least two years overdue. At reveal in 2019, Mr Musk said the Cybertruck would hit the road during 2021.
The projected delivery date was subsequently shuffled to 2022, and has now been kicked further down the road.
The Roadster is running even further behind schedule. It was meant to launch in 2020, after wowing crowds with its wild acceleration and game-changing 1000km range claim back in 2017, but has been quietly delayed multiple times since.
In 2021, Mr Musk said supply chain issues are behind its most recent delays. If it does launch in 2023, the Roadster will be three years behind schedule. It also will have been six years since its reveal by the time it hits the road – three-quarters of a normal car’s lifecycle.
Finally, the Semi was revealed in 2017 with plans to start production in time for 2019 deliveries.
It appears Mr Musk has also abandoned plans to deliver an affordable model to sit below the Model 3. He this week confirmed Tesla isn’t working on the US$25,000 electric car he foreshadowed in 2020.
Although its future models have been put on the back burner, Tesla recorded a strong profit for the last quarter of 2021.
The brand returned US$2.6 billion in profit between October 1 and December 31, 2021, despite factories running below capacity due to global supply chain shortages.
Although it doesn’t report Australian sales, it’s believed the Tesla Model 3 was comfortably the best-selling electric car Down Under in 2021 with around 10,000 deliveries.
That’s comfortably ahead of the MG ZS EV (1388 deliveries) and Porsche Taycan (531 sales).
