Cheaper Tesla Cybertruck launched, but the car maker needs ever more to fight its current battles

A long-range version of the controversial electric Tesla Cybertruck has been launched in the United States bringing a $10,000 ($AU15,752) cheaper, single-motor entry-level version to showrooms – and the first electric pick-up offered as rear-wheel drive.

The 2025 Tesla Cybertruck Long Range has a claimed 350-mile (563km) range, up from 325 miles (523km), with pricing from $US69,990 ($AU110,370) – $10,000 to-the-dollar less than the previous entry-level version, making the Long Range the cheapest Cybertruck yet.

The Long Range ditches the front electric motor to forgo all-wheel drive – previously standard on every Cybertruck – to give Tesla a more affordable rear-wheel drive entry level version of its sharply-styled electric pick-up.

There’s a catch, though: to get the maximum driving range, you need to fork out an additional $US750 ($AU1182) for the soft tonneau cover, as the powered tonneau standard on the rest of other Cybertrucks is not part of the Long Range’s kit.

If you don’t, the Long Range’s mileage on a single charge is 331 miles (532km), only nine-kilometre gain over the most efficient all-wheel drive Cybertruck.

As expected, removing the front electric motor slows down the Long Range’s pace, with its official 0-60mph (97km/h) sprint now is 6.2 seconds – 2.1 seconds slower than the dual-motor version.

There are also a few other items missing for your $10,000 saving – the air suspension – with adaptive dampers and coil springs instead – and 18-inch wheels with aero covers mean ground clearance is down from 16 inches (406mm) to 9.57 inches (243mm).

The smaller-diameter wheels also wear all-season tyres instead of the all-terrain rubber fitted to the rest of the Cybertruck range.

On the work front, towing is down to 7500 pounds (3402kg) from 11,000 (4989kg), while the payload has dropped from as much as 2500 pounds (1134kg) to 2006 pounds (910kg).

Yet many buyers won’t care about those, with the lower price point an opportunity for Tesla fans to get into a Cybertruck for less – given the allure and pull of the wildly designed pick-up.

It could bring a welcome boost, with global Cybertruck sales down almost a quarter – 24.4 per cent – in the first quarter of 2025.

Overall Tesla sales including the Model Y and Model 3 fell 12.9 per cent over the same period, with Australian showrooms suffering a staggering 59.7 per cent decline in the first quarter.

Even in the US – Tesla’s heartland – its sales fell nearly nine per cent against an 11 per cent increase in electric car sales overall in Q1 2025.

Much of the headwind has been attributed to the increasing engagement in politics by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, while the car maker also pointed to the production changeover from the old version to the updated Model Y.

It comes as Tesla – along with the entire automotive industry – faces uncertainty, most notably amidst the trade war between the US and China.

Tesla has factories in both countries – as well as Germany – with China’s retaliation from US President Trump’s tariffs seeing orders for US-made Teslas in China stopped.

Tesla deleted the ‘order now’ buttons on its Chinese website for the Model X and Model S, as the tariffs blow out to make the cost of new vehicles prohibitively expensive.

It follows car makers including Jaguar Land Rover – which paused shipments of cars to the US after the 3 April tariffs were implemented – as well as Volkswagen and Audi, who have stopped delivering cars to dealers that arrive in the US under the new tariffs.

In every case, the pause has been to give the car makers time to revise their strategy in the wake of the tariffs, made more difficult as the policy of the US government continues to change rapidly and unexpectedly.  

It could bring a welcome boost, with global Cybertruck sales down almost a quarter – 24.4 per cent – in the first quarter of 2025.

Overall Tesla sales including the Model Y and Model 3 fell 12.9 per cent over the same period, with Australian showrooms suffering a staggering 59.7 per cent decline in the first quarter.

Even in the US – Tesla’s heartland – its sales fell nearly 9 per cent against an 11 per cent increase in electric car sales overall in Q1 2025.

Much of the headwind has been attributed to the increasing engagement in politics by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, while the car maker also pointed to the production changeover from the old version to the updated Model Y.

It comes as Tesla – along with the entire automotive industry – faces uncertainty, most notably amidst the trade war between the US and China.

Tesla has factories in both countries – as well as Germany – with China’s retaliation from US President Trump’s tariffs seeing orders for US-made Teslas in China stopped.

Tesla deleted the ‘order now’ buttons on its Chinese website for the Model X and Model S, as the tariffs blew out to make the cost of new vehicles prohibitively expensive.

It follows car makers including Jaguar Land Rover – which paused shipments of cars to the US after the 3 April tariffs were implemented – as well as Volkswagen and Audi, who have stopped delivering cars to dealers that arrive in the US under the new tariffs.

In every case, the pause has been to give the car makers time to revise their strategy in the wake of the tariffs, made more difficult as the policy of the US government continues to change rapidly and unexpectedly.