Tesla Cybertruck Outsells Ford F-150 Lightning And Rivian R1T Combined In May Despite Price Premium

Tesla Inc‘s TSLA Cybertruck outsold Ford Motor Co‘s F F-150 Lightning and Rivian Automotive‘s RIVN R1T truck to become the most sold American-made EV truck in the U.S. in the month of May, as per vehicle registration data.

What Happened: According to data from S&P Global Mobility, 3,907 Cybertrucks were registered in May as compared to Ford’s F-150 Lightning which had 2,353 registrations, and Rivian’s R1T which had 1,237 registrations. In fact, the Cybertruck outsold the Lightning and R1T cumulatively during the month, Automotive News reported.

“It’s surprising because the Cybertruck is such a unique, one-of-a-kind, unusual vehicle, really as far out of the mainstream as you can get,” Tom Libby, associate director of industry analysis at S&P Global Mobility, told Automotive News. “On the other hand, it doesn’t surprise me because Elon Musk thrives on doing things like this.” 

Electric trucks from General Motors GM, meanwhile, had way lower registrations. As per the report, only 668 Chevrolet Silverado EVs and only 359 GMC Hummer EVs were registered in May.

Tesla does not give month-wise, geography-wise, or model-wise breakdowns of its deliveries, leaving only registration data to assess sales.

Higher Price Not A Deterrent: The higher registration numbers are despite the higher price point of the Cybertruck as compared to the other two popular electric trucks.

While the 2024 model year F-150 Lightning starts at $62,995, the Rivian R1T starts at $69,900. The currently available lower-priced version of the Cybertruck, meanwhile, starts at an estimated $79,990. The more premium Cyberbeast version starts at $99,990.

Why It Matters: Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously said that production, and not demand, is the biggest hurdle in ramping up Cybertruck deliveries. The company claims to have a million reservations for the vehicle and is attempting to deliver 250,000 units starting in 2025.

As of now, however, the company is only ramping up production. Tesla has touched a weekly production rate of 1,300 Cybertrucks, Musk said at Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting in early June. The company is looking to increase it further this year to touch 2,500 units by year-end, he added.

Check out more of Benzinga's Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Read More:

• Tesla Executive Assures Cybertruck Light Bar Coming ‘Soon’ For Foundation Series Cyberbeast Customers

Photo by Mike Mareen on Shutterstock