Chief executive Elon Musk delivered a handful of pickups on Nov. 30 to owners including Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. The automaker provided a long-awaited update on pricing and specifications, estimating the base version will cost US$60,990, up more than 50 per cent from the cheapest option floated four years ago. It won’t be available until 2025.

Tesla is taking reservations for that vehicle and two configurations that it will deliver next year, which cost an estimated US$79,990 and US$99,990. The version offering the most battery range will go about 340 miles on a charge, well short of the more than 500 miles the company touted four years ago.

“It’s a lot more expensive than I thought,” said Gene Munster, a managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management. “They need to get production up to get the price down, and they know they can’t produce a lot of them next year. The reality is that the Cybertruck isn’t really out yet.”

Tesla shares fell as much as 2.1 per cent before the start of regular trading Dec. 1. The stock climbed almost 20 per cent last month in anticipation of the event, which was live-streamed on X, the social media platform Musk owns and formerly known as Twitter.

The Cybertruck marks Tesla’s entry into the lucrative and highly competitive pickup market in the United States, a move that’s been met with a mix of excitement, criticism and doubt. One analyst suggested last week that the automaker should cancel the truck altogether, arguing it will be a drag on profit and divert resources. Musk himself has lamented that producing the pickup will be “insanely difficult.”

“It’s basically an incredibly useful truck. It’s not just some grandstanding showpiece, like me” - said ELON MUSK (Bloomberg)