It is the electric vehicle the world either loves or hates and finally, four years after billionaire US businessman Elon Musk first revealed it, the controversial Tesla Cybertruck is a reality.
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A livestream launch of the huge, stainless-steel bodied pick-up truck was held overnight in the US, with prices around 30 per cent higher than originally projected.
Michael Thompson, who brought the first Telsa to Canberra, placed his deposit on a Cybertruck three years ago in the hope that it may eventually reach Australian shores.
Now he's not so sure.
"It's only going to be built at one factory that we know of, the volumes are going to be quite small - about 250,000 a year - and Tesla is holding around one million orders," the former IT corporate boss said.
"As much as I'd love to see it come here, when you add in complexity of building the Cybertruck in right-hand drive for markets like Australia when they already have so many orders in their home market; it seems a long shot at this stage."
Mr Thompson took delivery of one of the first Teslas to arrive in Australia, a Model S, and brought it to Canberra almost five years ago. It cost $187,500. At that stage, Tesla had just one factory in Fremont, California.
Now the electric car company has factories all over the world: Shanghai, Berlin, Texas and soon in Mexico.
Not all the cars Tesla makes are sold in Australia . The Model S and the SUV with the so-called "Falcon" door openings, the Model X, were withdrawn from our market and now are only built in left-hand drive.
The two Tesla models offered here - the Model 3 and the Model Y - are imported from the Shanghai factory, which now builds around 1 million cars a year.
Canberra is the largest per capita market for Teslas in Australia. The Model Y is the biggest selling car in the world and the Model 3 is on target to be the ACT's top-selling car this year. This is without any "bricks and mortar" dealerships, one small shopfront in the city, and a delivery centre at Hume.
The Cybertruck has been described as the most complex car Tesla has built due to the choice of stainless steel for its bodywork - harking back to the infamous Back to the Future DeLorean sports car of the early 1980s - and engineering enough battery power into the car to hit its projected range and towing targets.
It weighs more than three tonnes, and the premium "Cyberbeast" version has a driving range of 515km. It can also tow almost five tonnes but with a much-reduced range.
"Stainless steel is a very difficult metal to work with, which is one reason why the Cybertruck's design is so angular and polarising," Mr Thompson said.
"Pick-up trucks are hugely popular in the US as we know but my take on the Cybertruck is that it is not a car for the masses.
"It has created a lot of conversation, of course, which lifts the company's profile.
"But I suspect that two of the big electric pick-up trucks out of the US, the Rivian and the Ford 150 Lightning, are far more likely to get to Australia than the Cybertruck, at least in the short to medium term."
Tesla launched two versions of the Cybertruck overnight: the dual motor version and the tri-motor. Mr Thompson said when he placed his deposit three years ago on a tri-motor, the quoted price was US$69,000. The tri-motor "Cyberbeast" price announced overnight was US$99,000.
What do you think of the Cybertruck? Would you buy one if it was available here? Let us know in the comments below.
