Elon Musk says Tesla is aiming to make 200,000 Cybertrucks a year. 2 weeks ago, he said the carmaker dug its own grave with the car.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk introducing the Cybertruck in November 2019.

Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Tesla is aiming to produce 200,000 Cybertrucks a year, CEO Elon Musk told Joe Rogan on a podcast.
Tesla previously said it had the capacity to make more than 125,000 Cybertrucks a year.
Just two weeks ago, Musk said on a Tesla earnings call that the company had “dug our own grave with Cybertruck.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared more information on production numbers for the long-awaited Cybertruck in his latest appearance on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast on Tuesday. 

“We’re aiming to make about 200,000 a year at point production — maybe a little more, but I just can’t emphasize enough that manufacturing is much harder than the initial design,” Musk told the podcast host in an almost three-hour-long interview.

Musk did not provide a timeframe for his projection. His latest assessment is nearly double the company’s projection in October that it expects to manufacture over 125,000 Cybertrucks annually during its pilot production phase. 

Tesla is expected to start the first deliveries of its highly anticipated futuristic electric truck this month following two years of delays due to issues, including changes in its design and features.

Tesla first unveiled the Cybertruck in November 2019, and Musk said at the time the company received 250,000 pre-orders in days. Back then, the company had Tesla originally quoted a starting price of $39,900. The price of the trapezoidal vehicle is still unknown.

Musk also shared more details about the Cybertruck during the podcast, and spoke of a “beast mode version” of the vehicle. Tesla’s Cybertruck will be built with bulletproof steel panels, and people will have the option to pay for bulletproof glass for the windows, Musk further revealed on the podcast.

It’s not the first time Musk has talked about how difficult it is to produce the Cybertruck.

“We dug our own grave with Cybertruck,” he had said on Tesla’s third-quarter earnings call in October, which one analyst dubbed a “mini disaster.” He explained its production requires a “staggering” amount of work because “it’s the nature of the newness.”

“If you want to do something radical and innovative and something really special like the Cybertruck, it is extremely difficult because there is nothing to copy,” he said during the earnings call.

Tesla’s share price closed 1.8% higher at $200.84 apiece on Tuesday. The stock is up 63% so far this year.