Back in 2019, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk assured the audience that his nerdy/futuristic Cybertruck pickup would start at an “affordable 40 grand.” Following a series of production hurdles made worse by market instability and inflation, the truck has taken its sweet time arriving – and now that it has arrived, it starts $59,990 before destination fees.
The new spec is listed as the Cybertruck Dual Motor AWD. True to its name, it packs dual e-motors driving all four wheels with a combined 600 PS (592 hp / 441 kW). Sprinting from zero to 60 miles per hour (0-96.6 km/h) succeeds in 4.1 seconds, and a full charge will get you as far as 523 km (325 miles), per EPA.
As you may have noticed, these specifications are suspiciously identical to those of the Premium AWD spec listed from $79,990. So, where do the $20,000 savings come from? The equipment and trim options, apparently.
For starters, the Dual Motor AWD runs on conventional adaptive suspension without costly air cushions. It also makes do with 18-inch wheels instead of 20-inch, and has significantly lower carrying and towing weight ratings. In other words, heavy-duty it is not.
Even more noticeably, the new trim trades all leather upholstery inside for textile, leaves heating on the front seats only and doesn’t offer any ventilated ones – not even for a premium. The audio system speaker count drops from 15 to 7, the rear passengers miss out on a dedicated infotainment touchscreen, and the cargo bed isn’t even backlit. Cutting basic things like the LED backlight suggests some extreme price optimization going on.
If the above still sounds fair to you, preorders in the USA are already running.
