Tesla officially launched sales of the Cybertruck in Canada earlier this month. With the premium prices it appeared as though the company was facing challenges in attracting buyers for the Foundation Series by working their way through the entire reservation list in less than a week, but the rollout in Canada is slightly different than in the US – here’s why.
When Tesla launched the Cybertruck in the US last year, it started by offering the Foundation Series to some of the earliest reservation holders. As the company typically does with a new vehicle program, it worked its way through the reservation list in roughly the order the reservations were placed. Now nine months later and the company is allowing anyone in the US to buy a Cybertruck without a reservation.
We were expecting the same pattern to follow in Canada. However it didn’t turn out that way. Within days of the launch, we were hearing that customers who had placed their orders within the past 12 months were receiving invitations to configure their Cybertruck, years ahead of when they thought it might happen, given that it was estimated there were over 1 million people ahead of them in the line.
We even heard from one of our readers who put down their deposit one week before sales launched, and they too were invited to design their Cybertruck.
Many believed this was due to the high prices. While that has undoubtedly played a part, there was also another reason.
In a comment to Drive Tesla, Cybertruck Program Manager Siddhant Awasthi told us only a small portion of Foundation Series production is being directed to Canada, and the company wanted to give all reservation holders a chance of buying one.
We are moving quickly on Canada vs US as there is limited Canada build slot this year so making sure we give everyone with a reservation an opportunity!
— Siddhant Awasthi (@siddawa) August 14, 2024
This then opens the questions of when non-Foundation Series production will begin. Unfortunately we don’t know the answer to that. During the Annual Shareholder Meeting in June, CEO Elon Musk said Tesla would begin non-Foundation Series production sometime between July and September. Tesla later corrected that timeline, saying in emails to customers that they intend to continue delivering Foundation Series through late 2024, so it is possible we may not see regular Cybertrucks until early 2025.
Whenever it does happen, we do know how much they will cost. In the US the All-Wheel Drive (AWD) will start at US79,990, and the Cyberbeast at US$99,990. It is not as clear in Canada, but the AWD should start at around C$109,990, and the Cyberbeast at around C$137,990, if Tesla follows suit and does a straight conversion like they have done with the Foundation Series.
