Tesla builds its first Cybertruck – FOUR YEARS after the concept was first unveiled

Tesla’s futuristic Cybertruck has finally rolled off the assembly line, nearly four years after Elon Musk unveiled the vehicle to the public.

In a tweetthe company confirmed that the first Cybertruck for customers has been built at its ‘Giga Texas’ manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas.

A photo showed more than 100 Telsa employees in helmets and safety vests surrounding the vehicle in the 10 million square foot facility.

Tesla’s Cybertruck – which will be priced between $50,000 (£38,000) and $70,000 (£53,000) – is a bizarre all-electric vehicle with a futuristic angular body in gunmetal grey.

Musk — who was red-faced when the truck’s windows were smashed during the initial unveiling as a prototype in 2019 — has said that “it looks like it was made by aliens from the future.”

Designed primarily for long-distance truckers, Cybertruck has an estimated battery range of up to 500 miles, acceleration from 0-60 mph in just 2.9 seconds, and capabilities both on water and on land.

It has been described as a vehicle that will ‘change the look of the roads’, with ‘more usability than a truck with more performance than a sports car’.

After Musk first glimpsed Cybertruck in November 2019, it was due to go into production in 2021, but this was pushed back to 2022 and again to 2023.

Musk previously blamed battery supply issues for the delay, saying each Cybertruck would cost “literally a million dollars a piece or more” if Tesla had started production of the futuristic vehicle in 2021.

Musk originally said it would cost $39,900 (£31,000) for a single engine version with a range of 250 miles, but that is now expected to be around $50,000 (£38,000), according to TechCrunch.

Meanwhile, the most expensive version with three electric motors and a 500-mile battery range will be $70,000 (£53,000), it claims.

Tesla’s Cybertruck has been available for pre-order since 2019 and has received more than 1.5 million orders, according to a report last November.

At a shareholder meeting in May, Musk said Tesla would like to produce a quarter of a million Cybertrucks a year, depending on demand.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk introduces the all-electric, battery-powered Tesla Cybertruck at the Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, California on November 21, 2019

With its wedge shape and stainless steel body – called the exoskeleton by Tesla – the Cybertruck looks nothing like a traditional pickup

Tesla boasts that the car’s nearly impenetrable monochrome exoskeleton provides maximum protection for passengers, along with ultra-tough glass that absorbs and redirects impact force.

Despite this, Musk was embarrassed at the car’s 2019 launch event when the Cybertruck’s glass was smashed.

At the time, Franz von Holshausen, Tesla’s chief designer, tried to prove the glass was “unbreakable” by throwing a heavy metal ball at close range.

But Musk was heard muttering “oh my f***ing God” as the glass shattered – despite which seem to pass the same test ahead of the launch event.

Design tweaks have been made to the Cybertruck since this first prototype, mainly to make it more durable and able to withstand impacts from rocks and debris that can fly up as it hurtles through rough terrain at high speeds.

The Cybertruck’s exoskeleton is now made of a new type of stainless steel that is said to be strong enough to withstand the impact of a 9mm pistol.

Visitors of the Telsa Cybertruck prototype at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California, July 2020. The American automaker has announced that its first Cybertruck has rolled off the assembly line at its massive factory near Austin, Texas

While not bulletproof, the windows are made of layers of glass that have been chemically treated to make them stronger.

A more recent prototype of the truck, shown at last April’s Cyber ​​Rodeo event in Texas, has no handles on the doors.

Musk said the truck “can tell you’re there and it just knows to open.”

The CEO has also said that Cybertruck will be “watertight enough to briefly serve as a boat,” though it’s unclear exactly how this would work.

MailOnline has contacted the company for more information.

Cybertruck is one of several Tesla products the company has announced but has yet to ship, along with the Roadster car and Optimus robot.

The 20-foot semi-autonomous truck was delivered to customers in December, five years after its unveiling.

Cybertruck Timeline: Heavy Duty Vehicle was first revealed in 2019

November 2017: Elon Musk describes a concept of a “pickup truck that can haul a pickup truck.”

November 2019: Musk unveils the Cybertruck prototype. The windows are smashed in a failed demo.

January 2021: The CEO tweets that Cybertruck “doesn’t need a garage” – because it offers enough protection in itself.

April 2021: Musk says he has “driven Cybertruck around the place where it will be built.”

September 2021: Musk said Cybertruck is not expected to enter production until late 2022.

Musk speaks in front of Tesla’s recently unveiled all-electric battery-powered Cybertruck with shattered windows, after a failed resistance test, at the Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, California, on Nov. 21, 2019

January 2022: Musk reveals he’s been driving the latest “amazing” prototype around Giga Texas.

January 2022: Cyber ​​truck production postponed to “hopefully next year,” Musk says in an earnings call.

September 2022: Musk tweets: “Cybertruck will be watertight enough to serve as a boat for a short time, so it can cross rivers, lakes and even moderate seas.”

November 2022: Musk tweets: “Cybertruck is something special that comes along once in a while.”

February 2023: Musk reaffirms Cybertruck production will start in 2023.

May 2023: Musk says Tesla is “working hard to get Cybertruck into production, calling it a “hard product to design and even harder to build.”

July 2023: First Cybertruck built at Giga Texas.