Million orders for Tesla Cybertruck
Buyers queue up for five seat, 3400kg-tow rated pure-electric off-roaderTesla has reportedly surpassed 1 million orders for its pure-electric Cybertruck says new software designed to track reservations.
According to blog Drive Tesla Canada the million-reservation threshold was reached in April but the seven-figure orders should be taken with more than a pinch of salt.
Firstly, the tracker does not rely on official figures from the US car-maker and depends on self-reported reservations.
It's also worth mentioning that to reserve a Cybertruck, that will be priced from $39,900 ($A52,000) when deliveries begin later in 2021, only requires American customers to place a fully-refundable deposit of $100.
It's that last fact that has sparked off a fury of multiple reservations by a single rabid Tesla fan, with some prospective owners placing an incredible 300 orders to ensure they'll be among the first to secure an early delivery date for their battery-powered trucks with the rest of the orders set to be cancelled as soon as they get their delivery date.
Whatever the number, Tesla is believed to be facing unprecedented demand for the Cybertruck with another source recently suggesting at the beginning of the year the US car firm had reported more than 535,000 reservations.
Despite Tesla suggesting the first deliveries of the Cybertruck would begin later in 2021 there's still little firm details on the full specification on the production version.
Many industry commentators have suggested that, in concept form, the six-metre pick-up truck had almost zero chance of meeting mandatory European crash tests, while its sheer size of its footprint would be a further challenge in most Euro markets.
Tesla boss, Elon Musk, is reportedly well aware of the Cybertruck's design failings and tweeted in February that the production version would "look slightly better".
The rigidity and sharpness of its angular design will also be softened to help meet pedestrian impact legislation, it's been reported.
The original concept promised to set the bar for full-size pure-electric trucks for both range and performance, with even the single-motor, rear-wheel drive version is claimed to hit 60mph (97km/h) in 6.5 seconds and offer a base range of more than 402km.
The mid-range dual-motor all-wheel drive Cybertruck, meanwhile, offered a 0-60mph acceleration of just 4.5 seconds and a range of 480km.
The flagship triple-motor AWD model was said to hit 60mph in just 2.9sec and achieve a 209km/h top speed. Its range was claimed to be 800km – almost 160km more than the longest-range Tesla Model S sedan.
All Cybertruck models will have a payload of 1588kg and the base model is rated to tow 3402kg.
It's not just demand for the Cybertruck that is expected to be high, in the small number of days the Ford F-150 Lightning has been available for order the Blue Oval says it has received 70,000 reservations.
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