The electric truck race is heating up. Toyota is planning to enter this market, as is Volkswagen, and then we have Ford's F-150 Lightning and Rivian's R1T, all of which are meant to do battle with the Tesla Cybertruck. As you can imagine, this segment is going to be very competitive. We haven't even mentioned Ram, Chevy, or Lordstown Motors. But it should come as a surprise that one of Tesla's competitors is helping to sell Cybertrucks, albeit inadvertently.
As the below video from HyperChange on YouTube explains, reservations for Tesla's truck spiked after buyers were left underwhelmed by the specs of the F-150 Lightning. Not that Tesla needs the help - reservations have already surpassed one million units.
The information on Tesla's Cybertruck reservations comes from an online tracker that was created around November 2019 specifically to keep track of pre-orders for the EV. At present, reservations stand at almost 1.1 million units, but which is most popular? It seems that the base version will be shunned by most of the public, with only 7.5 percent of orders attributed to the single motor version. Part of the reasoning is that this version will only see production begin sometime towards the end of next year, while the dual- and tri-motor models will begin production early in 2022.
Of course, the capability of the base version is a concern for buyers too, and this is why the above video suggests that the F-150 Lightning's release caused a surge in Cybertruck interest - Ford buyers were just expecting more from towing, range, speed, acceleration, and pricing specs.
Unsurprisingly, the top trim isn't the most sought after version of the Cybertruck either, but it is still very appealing. According to the reservation tracker, 44.5 percent of interested buyers have opted for the tri-motor model while the other 48 percent majority have gone for the mid-range dual-motor model. This makes sense as it's the most affordable way to get AWD from a Cybertruck and still promises 300 miles of range and a 0-60 time of less than 4.5 seconds.
By contrast, the top trim of the F-150 Lightning offers similar performance to the midrange Tesla while the base model Ford is rather disappointing with a range of 240 miles. Whatever the facts behind these reservations may be, it seems that Tesla will be building Cybertrucks for a long time, and Ford and the rest will have to step up their game to steal some of those sales.