Will Tesla’s hero Cybertruck ever come to Australia?
The world’s richest man is treating millions of Aussies with complete disdain but it doesn’t have to be this way.
OPINION
For a bloke as smart as Elon Musk, it must be the ultimate ‘no brainer’ – so what the hell is going on?
Am I missing something?
Maybe Mr Musk doesn’t have much love for Down Under, or he has simply forgotten about us and what we want?
There are few things Aussies love more than their utes. Just have a look at what we are buying.
The Ford Ranger ute was the most popular car sold last year, by some distance. The third and fourth best sold cars were also utes (or pick-ups as Musk might know them), the Toyota HiLux and the Isuzu D-Max.
With the Toyota RAV4 SUV sandwiched in at No. 2 for 2024.
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All up 230,000 utes were sold in Australia in 2024, according to official industry figures.
And as of pretty much right now, little has changed – the Ranger and the HiLux were the best selling vehicles according to the latest sales figures from October.
SUVs make up more than 60 per cent of new car sales in Australia but utes are the most popular cars.
That’s more than 200,000 utes sold in Australia every year.
Every day millions of Aussies are driving around in utes as their vehicle of choice.
Are you listening Elon?
Because you have a pretty good ute up your own sleeve. Or pickup. Or truck.
BIG LOVE FOR THE CYBERTRUCK
My first big impression of seeing the very impressive Cybertruck in person, was that it was the best ute I’d ever seen. And I have lots of love for the Ford Ranger.
But the Cybertruck just looked so cool and believe it or not: practical.
I’m no tradie but from what I have seen there is room enough in the back of the CT (Elon speak for Cybertruck) to accommodate anything work-related you might want to throw back there. And kitted out CTs I’ve seen in the states, reaffirm this view.
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They seem eminently every bit as tradie-like as the newly kitted out BYD Shark 6s I see crusing around. Which themselves seem to slot into the tradie world rather effortlessly.
And the Shark 6 hybrid ute has also become one of Australia’s favourite cars in record time.
The first Cybertrucks were delivered to customers in the US two years ago in November 2023 and Musk has been hinting that the CT will come to Australia for a while now.
Telsa was taking deposits in Australia for the CT as far back as 2019. Those who put down their hard-earned have since had it refunded and there are now real doubts as to whether the CT will come to Australia at all.
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(Despite a local Tesla sales rep telling me the left-hand drive models would be welcomed on Aussie roads.)
However Aussies can still register their interest in the futuristic vehicle at the local Tesla website.
Fishing edition, flirtation or something else?
AUSTRALIA A PRIORITY
What makes it even more curious is that Musk has prioritised the Aussie market for Tesla recently.
Australia was the just the sixth country in the world to have Telsa’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) (Supervised) and the first right-hand drive market, when the revolutionary tech made its way onto our roads in late August.
Only the US, Canada, Mexico and China had FSD (Supervised) before.
Tesla’s Model Y is by far the best selling EV in Australia and was the fifth most popular car sold here (not just EVs) last year. So Musk knows the appetite for his cars is there.
Perhaps Elon has simply moved on, as he makes he way toward becoming the world’s first trillionaire.
His Optimus robot is going to be the ‘greatest product ever’ he says. And maybe he’s right.
But even if Aussies learn to love personal robots too, there’s a good chance they will still love their utes.
You can surmise that Musk feels the economies of scale are just not worth it. He can’t sell enough right-hand drive CTs to make it work. And his Model S and Model X aren’t sold here anymore, presumably for that reason.
But again, that’s underestimating how much Aussies love their utes.
And while Musk has bemoaned the EVs subsidies that President Trump scaled back and made EVs more expensive. The Tesla and Space X CEO might want to have a gander at the controversial tax breaks that tradies get when buying utes.
Of course Australia’s EV tax breaks don’t look like getting scaled back any time soon.
Surely Musk can wedge out a slice of those 230k utes sold every year in Australia, just for himself?
THE ROCK STAR CAR
The Cybertruck has always been Tesla’s hero car. It’s rock star. Just ask any kid.
Kids and adults alike were all over a left-hand drive promo model when we visited the local Tesla dealership in inner city Sydney recently.
That has got to sell some cars in itself.
And the truck not only looked the part, it was spacious and very cool and very comfortable inside.
Unfortunately we couldn’t take it for a ride.
And what’s more it could be a great family car, as much as any SUV, including the Model Y.
Price as always would be important, especially so given the budget offerings China’s motoring giants have on the table these days.
The entry-level Model Y retails for about the same price as the entry-level Sharks 6 – so about $64,000 on road.
The long-range Y all speccd out with FSD (Supervised) and acceleration boost will set you back around $84,000. While the top of the line Ford Ranger Raptor will set you back north of $100k to get on the road.
So if Telsa can get the CT into Australia with a drive-away price of $100,000 to $120,000 it will very much be: Game On.
Over to you Elon.
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