Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a recent tweet he walked the Cybertruck production line in Texas for hours---another way of saying there’s an actual assembly line in place for the soon-to-be-made all-electric pickup truck.
Musk added it’s “gonna be awesome” and “feels like the future,” without going into details, but if he had something to see for several hours, it’s safe to say there’s a lot of machinery put in place, ready to make the Cybertruck---revealed back in 2019---a mass-produced reality after several delays and setbacks.
This isn’t really a surprise, since Musk previously said the company is working to start limited production of the much-anticipated truck this summer, with an expected ramp-up in 2024, but it’s nice to see the American EV brand is trying its best to avoid another delay and subsequent disappointment for keen reservation holders.
In January, Tesla design chief Franz von Holzhausen said the futuristic pickup was finished “from a design perspective,” adding the company doesn’t have a “pencils down” mentality with vehicle design, which means Tesla could make changes to the design of a model whenever it feels there’s a need for it. But this isn’t something new, seeing how the Model S, which debuted in 2012, went through several updates over the years.
Moreover, there have been more hints in the past several weeks the Fremont, CA-based carmaker is quickly going through all the phases necessary to begin assembling the Cybertruck, with not one but two 9,000-ton Giga Presses heading to the Giga Texas factory, a ramp-up in hirings and more and more prototypes hitting the streets for testing, which is the usual norm for any manufacturer, legacy or otherwise.
The Tesla Cybertruck is one of the most anticipated vehicles in recent years and there are still a lot of unknowns. We can expect the all-electric pickup to come with an adaptive air suspension setup linked with the company’s latest Hardware 4.0 computer, rear-wheel steering and of course four-wheel drive.
Abby Andrews