Tesla raises price of most-expensive Cybertruck by US$15,000 in US

A Tesla Cybertruck is on display at the Tesla showroom in Buena Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

Tesla has raised the price of its most-expensive Cybertruck pickup truck model by US$15,000 in the United States despite softer-than-expected sales and recalls.

The sharp increase follows a long-delayed rollout in which the pickup has struggled to meet Tesla’s early promises, with sales so far trailing expectations.

The Cyberbeast variant, which now costs $114,990, comes with a new “Luxe Package” that includes Supervised Full Self-Driving and free access to its Supercharger network. Prices of other Cybertruck models were unchanged.

The pricing of the model is well above CEO Elon Musk’s 2019 pitch of a roughly $40,000 starting price. But when it was launched in late 2023, Tesla set the base model at $60,990, more than 50 per cent higher than the earlier target.

Rival models such as Ford’s F-150 Lightning and Chevrolet’s Silverado EV generally offer lower entry prices on certain trims, fueling competition as Cybertruck prices climb.

Tesla has also been offering hefty discounts of around $10,000 on some Cybertruck units in inventory.

Musk previously said Tesla had the capacity to produce more than 125,000 Cybertrucks annually, with a potential to reach about 250,000 in 2025, while also warning of a difficult production ramp.

The pickup has underperformed expectations, with sales representing a small fraction of the company’s overall deliveries and demand fading amid repeated recalls and quality issues.

While Tesla does not disclose Cybertruck deliveries, the March recall covering about 46,000 vehicles built from the start of deliveries in November 2023 through February 27, 2025 suggests the truck’s cumulative sales remain well below the annual capacity figures.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram and Disha Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Shilpi Majumdar)