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Tesla has a backup plan for the Cybertruck, but don’t plan on seeing it
Tesla CEO Elon Musk indicated that if the company’s Cybertruck tanks in terms of sales, the electric automaker will design and manufacture a “normal” truck with a typical pickup design, but don’t bank on seeing it.
Tesla unveiled its Cybertruck in November 2019, and its design was met with both support and criticisms from automotive enthusiasts. Nobody had ever seen anything like it before: a stainless steel exoskeleton, wrapped over a futuristic and robust frame, powered by a series of electric motors that would give it impressive and useful capability on and off of the road.
Despite the truck’s unique design, it has accrued a massive amount of pre-orders and has caught the attention of many people around the world. Even though Tesla is prepared to design a new, “normal” pickup for those who would like sustainability while hauling, don’t hold your breath on seeing it.
During a recent interview with Automotive News, Elon Musk stated that Tesla was prepared to deal with slumping sales when the Cybertruck is released in late 2021. There is a possibility that the company’s first pickup will not do well, and Musk said that Tesla would adapt.
“If it turns out nobody wants to buy a weird-looking truck, we’ll build a normal truck, no problem,” the Tesla CEO said on the Daily Drive Podcast. “There’s lots of normal trucks out there that look pretty much the same. You can hardly tell the difference. And sure, we could just do some copycat truck. That’s easy. So that’s our fallback strategy.”
Reports from various media outlets, along with a Cybertruck reservation decoder, had estimated that the company’s pickup was pre-ordered over half a million times by the time February had arrived. The most recent update from the Cybertruck Owner’s Club came in late May, and the site had indicated over 713,000 total pre-orders for the truck so far.
One Cybertruck reservation holder who has pre-ordered two Tri-Motor configurations told Teslarati that the second reservation number indicated they were the 792,302 truck ordered. “On 6/15, I put in my 2nd Cybertruck reservation. According to the Cybertruckownersclub.com reservation decoder, that makes me #792,302.”
Although the prospective number of reservations is somewhat astronomical, that isn’t stopping Tesla from preparing for the worst. A back-up plan will be developed to be safe.
Interestingly enough, one of the first segments of the Cybertruck’s unveiling event last Winter started with a comparison of the currently-available pickup trucks that roam on streets in the United States. All trucks will have a cab and a bed, but the design of pickup trucks across manufacturers remains the same on a relative scale. There is very little individualism between vehicle designs. Without badges, it isn’t easy to decipher which car company is making each truck.
Tesla’s goal with the Cybertruck was to create something the world had never seen before. People hadn’t ever seen any vehicle with this type of design in the modern era, but if any company was going to do it, it was going to be Tesla.
Nikola Motors CEO Trevor Milton also offered Tesla and Musk a design for a “broader market.” Milton indicated in the Tweet from November 22, 2019, that Nikola doesn’t build cars or trucks, but their design would be donated to Tesla “just in case.” Since then, Nikola has developed the Badger, which is expected to enter the EV pickup market in the future.
https://twitter.com/nikolatrevor/status/1197749716580093952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1197749716580093952%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.teslarati.com%2Ftesla-cybertruck-design-elon-musk-tweet-nikola-ceo%2F
Whether Tesla builds a traditional truck design remains to be seen. Judging on the popularity and pre-order estimations of the Cybertruck, Tesla will likely not need to design a new pickup that will appeal to a broader market. Of course, consumers will have to wait and see what happens with the car between now and the initial production runs, because Tesla is constantly changing the Cybertruck’s design to make it the strongest vehicle on the road.
“Things are seeming more apocalyptic these days. Let me tell you, the truck you want in the apocalypse is the Cybertruck,” Musk said.
The Cybertruck’s Dual and Tri-Motor variants will be available in late 2021, with the Single Motor configuration coming in 2022. The truck will be manufactured at Tesla’s new Austin, Texas Gigafactory.
Elon Musk
Musk bankers looking to trim xAI debt after SpaceX merger: report
xAI has built up $18 billion in debt over the past few years, with some of this being attributed to the purchase of social media platform Twitter (now X) and the creation of the AI development company. A new financing deal would help trim some of the financial burden that is currently present ahead of the plan to take SpaceX public sometime this year.
Elon Musk’s bankers are looking to trim the debt that xAI has taken on over the past few years, following the company’s merger with SpaceX, a new report from Bloomberg says.
xAI has built up $18 billion in debt over the past few years, with some of this being attributed to the purchase of social media platform Twitter (now X) and the creation of the AI development company. Bankers are trying to create some kind of financing plan that would trim “some of the heavy interest costs” that come with the debt.
The financing deal would help trim some of the financial burden that is currently present ahead of the plan to take SpaceX public sometime this year. Musk has essentially confirmed that SpaceX would be heading toward an IPO last month.
The report indicates that Morgan Stanley is expected to take the leading role in any financing plan, citing people familiar with the matter. Morgan Stanley, along with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., are all expected to be in the lineup of banks leading SpaceX’s potential IPO.
Since Musk acquired X, he has also had what Bloomberg says is a “mixed track record with debt markets.” Since purchasing X a few years ago with a $12.5 billion financing package, X pays “tens of millions in interest payments every month.”
That debt is held by Bank of America, Barclays, Mitsubishi, UFJ Financial, BNP Paribas SA, Mizuho, and Société Générale SA.
X merged with xAI last March, which brought the valuation to $45 billion, including the debt.
SpaceX announced the merger with xAI earlier this month, a major move in Musk’s plan to alleviate Earth of necessary data centers and replace them with orbital options that will be lower cost:
“In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale. To harness even a millionth of our Sun’s energy would require over a million times more energy than our civilization currently uses! The only logical solution, therefore, is to transport these resource-intensive efforts to a location with vast power and space. I mean, space is called “space” for a reason.”
The merger has many advantages, but one of the most crucial is that it positions the now-merged companies to fund broader goals, fueled by revenue from the Starlink expansion, potential IPO, and AI-driven applications that could accelerate the development of lunar bases.
News
Tesla pushes Full Self-Driving outright purchasing option back in one market
Tesla announced last month that it would eliminate the ability to purchase the Full Self-Driving software outright, instead opting for a subscription-only program, which will require users to pay monthly.
Tesla has pushed the opportunity to purchase the Full Self-Driving suite outright in one market: Australia.
The date remains February 14 in North America, but Tesla has pushed the date back to March 31, 2026, in Australia.
NEWS: Tesla is ending the option to buy FSD as a one-time outright purchase in Australia on March 31, 2026.
It still ends on Feb 14th in North America. https://t.co/qZBOztExVT pic.twitter.com/wmKRZPTf3r
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) February 13, 2026
Tesla announced last month that it would eliminate the ability to purchase the Full Self-Driving software outright, instead opting for a subscription-only program, which will require users to pay monthly.
If you have already purchased the suite outright, you will not be required to subscribe once again, but once the outright purchase option is gone, drivers will be required to pay the monthly fee.
The reason for the adjustment is likely due to the short period of time the Full Self-Driving suite has been available in the country. In North America, it has been available for years.
Tesla hits major milestone with Full Self-Driving subscriptions
However, Tesla just launched it just last year in Australia.
Full Self-Driving is currently available in seven countries: the United States, Canada, China, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.
The company has worked extensively for the past few years to launch the suite in Europe. It has not made it quite yet, but Tesla hopes to get it launched by the end of this year.
In North America, Tesla is only giving customers one more day to buy the suite outright before they will be committed to the subscription-based option for good.
The price is expected to go up as the capabilities improve, but there are no indications as to when Tesla will be doing that, nor what type of offering it plans to roll out for owners.
Elon Musk
Starlink terminals smuggled into Iran amid protest crackdown: report
Roughly 6,000 units were delivered following January’s unrest.
The United States quietly moved thousands of Starlink terminals into Iran after authorities imposed internet shutdowns as part of its crackdown on protests, as per information shared by U.S. officials to The Wall Street Journal.
Roughly 6,000 units were delivered following January’s unrest, marking the first known instance of Washington directly supplying the satellite systems inside the country.
Iran’s government significantly restricted online access as demonstrations spread across the country earlier this year. In response, the U.S. purchased nearly 7,000 Starlink terminals in recent months, with most acquisitions occurring in January. Officials stated that funding was reallocated from other internet access initiatives to support the satellite deployment.
President Donald Trump was aware of the effort, though it remains unclear whether he personally authorized it. The White House has not issued a comment about the matter publicly.
Possession of a Starlink terminal is illegal under Iranian law and can result in significant prison time. Despite this, the WSJ estimated that tens of thousands of residents still rely on the satellite service to bypass state controls. Authorities have reportedly conducted inspections of private homes and rooftops to locate unauthorized equipment.
Earlier this year, Trump and Elon Musk discussed maintaining Starlink access for Iranians during the unrest. Tehran has repeatedly accused Washington of encouraging dissent, though U.S. officials have mostly denied the allegations.
The decision to prioritize Starlink sparked internal debate within U.S. agencies. Some officials argued that shifting resources away from Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) could weaken broader internet access efforts. VPNs had previously played a major role in keeping Iranians connected during earlier protest waves, though VPNs are not effective when the actual internet gets cut.
According to State Department figures, about 30 million Iranians used U.S.-funded VPN services during demonstrations in 2022. During a near-total blackout in June 2025, roughly one-fifth of users were still able to access limited connectivity through VPN tools.
Critics have argued that satellite access without VPN protection may expose users to geolocation risks. After funds were redirected to acquire Starlink equipment, support reportedly lapsed for two of five VPN providers operating in Iran.
A State Department official has stated that the U.S. continues to back multiple technologies, including VPNs alongside Starlink, to sustain people’s internet access amidst the government’s shutdowns.
Musk bankers looking to trim xAI debt after SpaceX merger: report
SpaceX launches Crew-12 on Falcon 9, lands first booster at new LZ-40 pad
