Are Cybertruck Expectations Too High In 2023? Musk Says 'I Wouldn't Put Too Much Thought In Start Of Production'

One of the most anticipated debuts for Tesla Inc TSLA and the overall electric vehicle industry is the Cybertruck electric pickup truck. New details on the timeline of the vehicle were shared Wednesday.

What Happened: Tesla beat revenue and earnings per share estimates from analysts for the fourth quarter with its earnings report Wednesday.

Shares of Tesla traded higher Thursday on new updates from analysts and comments made during the company’s conference call.

Among the highlights from the earnings report and the conference call was an update that the Cybertruck will begin production in mid-2023 at Gigafactory Texas.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk also shared an update during the company’s conference call.

“We do expect production to start, I don’t know, maybe sometime this summer. But I always like to try to downplay the start of production because the start of production is always very slow. It increases exponentially, but it’s always very slow at first. So I wouldn’t put too much thought into start of production. It’s kind of when volume production actually happens, and that’s next year,” Musk said.

Related Link: Tesla Rallies Off Q4 Earnings, This Item Was 'All Bulls Needed To Hear,' Analyst Says 

Why It’s Important: Since unveiling the Cybertruck in 2019, the vehicle had been one of the most anticipated product launches from Tesla ever and one of the most hyped vehicle launches of all time.

The vehicle was previously given production targets of 2021 and 2022 before setbacks saw it pushed back to 2023. The previous setbacks had some questioning if production would truly begin in 2023.

Third-party estimates show over one million reservations for the Cybertruck.

The new comments from Musk and Tesla were playing the launch of Cybertruck conservatively, which could mean a limited number of models sold in 2023.

Tesla investor and Future Fund Managing Partner Gary Black told The Street that 10,000 Cybertruck deliveries could happen in 2023. The investor also estimated Tesla could hit 1.9 million vehicle deliveries in 2023.

Tesla’s guidance on Wednesday called for 1.8 million vehicles delivered in 2023 and some analysts thought the company could get closer to 2 million vehicles for the full year.

An investor day will be hosted by Tesla on March 1 and could provide more color on exactly how many Cybertruck units could be produced in 2023. Expectations of anything over 1,000 Cybertruck units might be overly optimistic at this point and analysts could adjust their vehicle estimates as a result.

TSLA Price Action: Tesla stock closed up 10.97% at $160.27 on Thursday versus a 52-week trading range of $101.81 to $384.29. Tesla shares have started out in 2023 up 48% year-to-date.

Read Next: Trading Strategies For Tesla Stock Before And After Q4 Earnings 

Photo: Courtesy Tesla