- Elon Musk is still making complex demands about the appearance of the Cybertruck.
- Details on Tesla's futuristic-looking Cybertruck are still sparse.
The Tesla Cybertruck still hasn't officially launched yet, missing CEO Elon Musk's third-quarter target.
Musk has previously said he hoped to hand over the first customer trucks at an event in late September, but such an event has yet to be announced. Production started in earnest over the summer, and sightings of the truck are ramping up as more of them are built.
Tesla still announce any Cybertruck news on Monday when the company reported third quarter deliveries of 435,059 vehicles. (Those deliveries missed Wall Street's expectations by about 26,580 cars).
Signs began bubbling up over the summer that another delay could be in store for the trapezoidal truck. Industry analysts and fans started to get anxious as Musk mafe last-minute demands about the truck's appearance, and not date has been set for a launch party for order-holders of the Cybertruck.
Tesla did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
Musk first announced the truck in 2019, and set a goal of beginning production in 2021. Here are three signs the Cybertruck would be delayed yet again:
Musk is making new demands about the truck's appearance
In a leaked internal email, Musk told Tesla employees in August that the Cybertruck needs to be "designed and built to sub 10 micron accuracy." A demand like this, which would require imperfections in the Cybertruck to be imperceptible to the naked eye, is an impossible ask at the production phase, manufacturing experts said.
"Getting perfection that close to micron errors has to be designed in at the beginning," said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions. "It's a much more dynamic piece of the puzzle than just telling the people putting it together, 'You got to be good about putting it together.'"
To Fiorani, this last-minute demand from Musk is a sign the CEO is sweating some of the truck's comparisons and early criticisms, and hoping to learn from past mistakes. It could also mean early batches are smaller than initially promised, he said.
Details on the Cybertruck are still sparse
Some Cybertruck order-holders have told Insider that they are concerned about how few details Tesla has shared with them on the Cybertruck. Supposedly weeks from the official launch, customers still didn't know how much they would pay for the truck, or exactly how large it would be.
Details like pricing and available builds are normally released well before the launch of a vehicle. While builds tend to remain more static, prices are subject to change. But it is industry standard to set a base price early in the rollout of a vehicle, according to automotive retail experts.
And this isn't just any Tesla vehicle launch: it's Tesla's entrance into the highly-competitive pickup truck market, where specs and prices are closely followed by shoppers.
"You are going to compete with some of the best vehicle manufacturers on the planet," Fiorani said of the truck market. "Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, and Toyota are not going to easily give up any market share."
Tesla hasn't set a date for the Cybertruck launch party
In late August, Tesla said customers could buy invitations to a Cybertruck delivery event using 30,000 referral credits, which owners accrue through Tesla purchases. While this appeared to be a sign the party was drawing nearer, a date has yet to be set.
Musk previously said the launch party would happen toward the end of the third quarter, which ended in September.