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Tesla recently held the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting, at which the two biggest ballot items—ratifying Elon Musk’s $56 billion compensation package and changing Tesla’s state of incorporation to Texas—passed by a landslide.
During the meeting, Elon Musk also gave a presentation about Tesla’s performance thus far and the EV maker’s plans going forward.
My Tesla charger got stuck and won't unlatch from my Cybertruck. I found a secret Cybertruck compartment that allowed me to solve the issue. https://t.co/3MzaxHYXMe pic.twitter.com/n4LG1HPNg5
— Torque News (@torquenewsauto) June 12, 2024
During the event, many exciting new announcements were made; however, the biggest new information we received pertains to Tesla’s plan to bring the Cybertruck to more regions, including Europe and China.
A Tesla shareholder at the event asked Elon Musk, stating that individuals outside the US have a lot of interest in purchasing the Cybertruck. Musk, in response, said that Tesla would bring the Cybertruck to more geographical regions and explained further the timeline and the work Tesla must do before the company can launch the Cybertruck in Europe and China.
Asked about whether Tesla would bring the Cybertruck to regions outside North America, Musk responded, saying…
“I think we might be able to certify it for other markets sometime next year, but this year, it is just North America. We designed the car to North American requirements because if you start going with the superset of all international requirements, it forces a lot of constraints on the Cybertruck that make the product frankly worse.”
Musk added that Tesla must make several changes to the Cybertruck before it can be sold outside North America. Musk further explained why currently creating a special version of the Cybertruck doesn’t make much sense.
“So, I think we’ll need to make a special version of the Cybertruck, for example, China or Europe-compliant, but it really doesn’t make sense to add that complexity until we’ve achieved a higher production volume on the Cybertruck. There is still a lot of work to do to reduce costs for Cybertruck.”
Should Tesla make a phone? Elon Musk about Tesla making a phone: "we could, but hopefully it isn't needed." He also explains why it will be easy for Tesla to produce a phone. https://t.co/ImB3KIM2qL Would you buy a Tesla phone? What specific features would you like Tesla phone to… pic.twitter.com/7YB3aw9SPQ
— Torque News (@torquenewsauto) June 13, 2024
Musk further emphasized the work that still remains to cut the Cybertruck production cost, stating…
“I generally would say that the level of difficulty of going from, say, prototype to production is a hundred times harder. Once you reach production, decreasing the price (the cost of goods) by 20 percent is harder than reaching production in the first place. It’s a mega pain, and to be frank, it’s not the most fun job in the world. You know, chiseling pennies is like washing the dishes. Frankly, I wash a lot of dishes here at Tesla.
It’s super fun to make prototypes. That’s really fun. It’s pretty cool to get the production going, but then the cost grind is a grind. That’s hard work. You know, there is some reward to it, like there is some sort of reward to washing the dishes. I guess you have clean dishes, but that’s tough. That’s real hard work.”
Given Musk’s hesitance to immediately launch the Cybertruck in more geographic regions, the shareholder who asked the initial question pushed back, stating Tesla would get a lot of demand if the EV maker introduced the Cybertruck to more countries. Musk then responded…
“I think from a demand standpoint, we would have plenty of demand in other parts of the world for Cybertruck, so there is no question. Wherever it goes anywhere in the world, it gets a massive crowd, so it’s not a demand thing. We really have to reach volume production and go through the cost grind. It’ll be difficult for me to overstate the difficulty of the cost grind; it’s really intense, and then we’ve got to recertify the car, which includes making some design changes to be compliant in other markets.”
According to Elon Musk, the Cybertruck will not be able to be sold the way the vehicle is designed in Europe and China.
Tesla’s lead engineer, Lars Moravey, has previously stated that weight and design requirements disqualify the Cybertruck from being sold in Europe.
A move is currently being made to address the weight requirements; however, Lars Moravey also revealed that the Cybertruck’s sharp edges are not allowed under European law, and it will be close to impossible to make the Cybertruck comply with European regulations without a major redesign.
However, today, Musk appears to be stating that Tesla is committed to redesigning the Cybertruck to make the vehicle comply with regulations in other regions.
Having said that, given all the changes that need to be made to the Cybertruck to meet the superset of worldwide regulations, it’s unclear whether Tesla would need to create a completely different pickup truck design.
Musk has previously stated that he has been thinking about a smaller “tight world, wolverine package Cybertruck” for sale in Europe and China, where roads are smaller and people have different requirements for a pickup truck.
Musk has revealed that, for now, the priority is ramping up Cybertruck production and decreasing production costs for the vehicle. However, after 2024, once Cybertruck was fully ramped up, Musk left the possibility of Tesla creating a special version of Cybertruck that complies with regulations in geographic regions outside of North America open. And Tesla can create the special Cybertruck version as soon as 2025.
Currently, Musk has not given any concrete plans for when exactly this special version of Cybertruck will start production; however, we’ll be sure to keep you posted once we get further clarification from Tesla.
Until then, visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.
So, what do you think? Are you excited to learn that, as soon as next year, Tesla could create a special version of the Cybertruck that could be sold worldwide? Do you think it was a mistake for Tesla to create a pickup truck that can only be sold in North America? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below by clicking the red “Add new comment” button.
Image: Courtesy of Tesla, inc.
For more information, check out: My Tesla Charger Got Stuck and Won’t Unlatch from My Cybertruck – I Found a Secret Cybertruck Compartment that Allowed Me to Solve the Issue
Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and the evolution of the EV space daily for several years. He covers everything about Tesla, from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.
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