Nearly 4 years after Elon Musk first unveiled Tesla’s debut pickup, the automaker has constructed its first Cybertruck at its plant in Austin, Texas.

Tesla shared the event Saturday on Musk-owned Twitter, posting a photograph of staff in security vests and helmets obscuring a lot of the car. When Musk first confirmed a prototype of the wedge-shaped truck in November 2019, the plan was for manufacturing to begin two years later.

Musk has tempered expectations for a way shortly Tesla will ramp up manufacturing, telling shareholders on the firm’s annual assembly in Could that the Cybertruck’s radical design poses challenges. He’s mentioned the physique will probably be stainless-steel, which will be costly and troublesome to form and weld.

“It’s going to be arduous to make the associated fee inexpensive as a result of it’s a new automotive, new manufacturing methodology,” Musk mentioned. “Within the grand scheme of issues, relative to the manufacturing charge of all the opposite automobiles we make, it is going to be small. However it’s nonetheless very cool.”

Tesla initially mentioned it might promote the Cybertruck in three configurations:

• A single-motor model with greater than 250 miles of vary, beginning at $39,900.
• A dual-motor mannequin with greater than 300 miles of vary, beginning at $49,900.
• And a tri-motor iteration with greater than 500 miles of vary, beginning at $69,900.

However in October 2021, the corporate eliminated pricing and specs from its Cybertruck order web page, with out rationalization.

When requested in April this yr for up to date specs and pricing, Musk demurred, saying Tesla would save that info for a Cybertruck handover occasion he hoped to stage across the finish of the third quarter.

Since Tesla unveiled the car at an occasion marred by the botched demonstration of supposedly bulletproof glass, Ford launched an electrical model of its best-selling F-150, Normal Motors started promoting its GMC Hummer EV pickup, and Rivian Automotive launched its R1T truck.

Deutsche Financial institution analyst Emmanuel Rosner expects Tesla to ship 2,000 Cybertrucks this yr — a fraction of the 1.78 million autos he’s projecting in whole. In a June 26 report, he questioned whether or not the product will enhance the corporate’s profitability, citing the issue of optimizing manufacturing and wish for bigger battery packs to allow towing.

Tesla releases second-quarter earnings outcomes on July 19.