Aussie buyers queue up for Tesla Cybertruck

The Tesla Cybertruck is coming to the land Down Under and new research suggests Australia could be one of the largest global markets for the sharp-edged electric pick-up outside of North America.

The Tesla Cybertruck is a large five-seat dual-cab ute roughly the same size as a Ford F-150 (it's big!) and has officially accumulated more than a quarter of a million paid reservations, which cost erstwhile buyers $US100 ($A150) a pop.

Tesla doesn't reveal specific numbers when it comes to the locations of paid reservations on vehicles such as the Cybertruck but according to new info, Australians are going gangbusters for the futuristic dual-cab ute.

After crowdsourcing responses from around 1800 members of its Tesla community, CybertruckTalk.com revealed that the USA and Canada had the most Cybertruck reservations, but Australia had the third-most reservations at just over 3 per cent. Here's the full list:

United States (76.25%)
Canada (10.43%)
Australia (3.16%)
United Kingdom (1.39%)
Norway (1.11%)
Germany (1.05%)
Sweden (0.83%)
Netherlands (0.67%)
France (0.44%)
Iceland (0.44%)

While the 3 per cent may sound like a small amount, it could result in 15,000 orders for the Tesla EV ute in Australia.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated back in November 2019 that paid reservations have exceeded 250,000 within a week of its unveiling. Reports suggest that number could have grown to 500,000 by now; three per cent equals around 15,000 vehicles – assuming none of the deposits refundable deposits are withdrawn.

Utes and pick-up trucks are hugely popular in Australia, with official sales stats showing that around one in every five new vehicles purchased is a ute, which could cement the Tesla pick-up truck as one of the brand's top-selling models here.

The Tesla Cybertruck will be offered in Australia in single, double and triple motor variants according to the pre-order page on the official Tesla website and while a launch date or price point hasn't been set, Musk previously confirmed production is set to commence in late 2021 at a yet-to-be-built factory in the USA.

The 4x4 double and triple motor Cybertruck utes have the most pre-orders, at around 40 per cent each, and are expected to be priced at around US50,000 and $US70,000 in North America – which converted to local bones is around $A81,000 and $A113,000 at the time of writing.

There is also a cheapo model, the single-motor, rear-drive Cybertruck that costs under $US40,000 ($A65,000) but this model-grade has less than 20 per cent of pre-orders.

According to Tesla, the electric ute's cruising range is between 400 and 800km and towing capacities range between 3400kg and 6350kg for the single motor and triple motor models respectively.

Musk says the Cybertruck will revolutionise towing by not only offering high torque levels (rumoured to be up to 600kW/1300Nm) but also by way of a towing calculator.

"Yes, will also show real-time changes to max acceleration, braking, cornering, speed on gradient & range, latter factoring in route elevation changes & cargo or tow mass & drag impact," said Musk in one of his ubiquitous Tweets.

While several brands are developing hybrid utes, including the next-generation Toyota HiLux, several other US-built EV pick-up trucks are in development, including the Rivian R1T and Fisker ute, both of which are destined for Australia.

It's not yet clear if the Nikola Badger, Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado EV utes are coming to Australia but we've got a list of EV utes coming to Oz if you want to check it out.

The burning question for Australians with Cybertruck reservations will be around timing.

US deliveries are expected to commence late 2021 or early 2022 but local deliveries could be years after that.

"We don’t want to wait three years," said Mark Tipping, president of Tesla owners club of Australia. He explained that interest for the new Cybertruck in Australia is huge, and especially for off-road enthusiasts, but that past experiences will make the wait challenging.

"That's the big one; people want it now. After the [Tesla] Model 3 experience of waiting umpteen years, bring it here today please!"