Tesla's long-delayed Cybertruck lands in NZ

Tuesday, 20 June 2023

Tesla was spotted recently unloading a Cybertruck prototype at an airport in New Zealand, most likely for some late-stage winter testing.

The recognisable electric truck, filmed and uploaded to the Cybertruck Owners Club forum and quickly distributed around social media, was either heading to or coming from the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds near Queenstown, which is used by many carmakers to make sure their vehicles are up to scratch in cold climates while they’re in their summer months. Tesla posted a picture of the Cybertruck sliding around the snow (above) back in May, which could either be Queenstown or its own Alaska-based facilities.

Tesla engineers were there recently to work on the Model Y’s Track Mode, testing how the car performed on the slippery snow. The video Tesla released of the trip showed off the Model S and X as well, both of which aren’t sold here any more. There’s a chance these same engineers stuck around to help develop the Cybertruck’s four-wheel steering, quad-motor powertrain and electronics.

Stuff contacted a Tesla representative for comment and is awaiting response. Should this bout of testing precede production and there aren’t any unexpected gremlins, Elon Musk said recently we could see the Cybertruck hitting the road later this year. But we’ve heard that one before…

At the end of 2022, a report from Reuters said Tesla is aiming to begin full-scale production of the Cybertruck “at the end of 2023”, two years after the initial target for the electric pick-up truck.

In 2019, Tesla said it was aiming for a price under US$40,000 (NZ$65,690), but that was before Covid, the massive chip shortage, and rising inflation, to name a few global issues. Since then, Tesla has raised its prices across the board.

There were also inherent design issues with the truck, revealed through a spate of leaked documents dated January 2022 but discussed in May 2023 through German publication Handelsblatt. The reports indicated that the preproduction ‘alpha’ version of the Cybertruck was seriously struggling with getting the basics right.

According to the documents, Tesla was encountering issues with braking, suspension, the chassis, overall handling, and sealing the body with the prototype as late as 2022, which would go some way to explaining the delays. Industry experts said the issues were largely fixable but many were shocked they were still present so late in the development cycle. There’s also that lingering question of safety with the hard-edged stainless steel body…