The Tesla Cybertruck was first unveiled as a prototype in November 2019 with the promise that it would enter production in late 2021.
Tesla then had to postpone the start of production several times: from late 2021 to late 2022, then to early 2023 and most recently to the mid-2023 target for initial production.
Despite these delays and changes in pricing and specifications that Tesla is still keeping secret, consumer enthusiasm for the Cybertruck never waned. Quite the contrary, the weird-looking electric pickup truck continues to be one of the most anticipated EVs alongside the second-generation Roadster, judging by online searches.
The number of Cybertruck reservations is arguably a better metric for the model’s popularity than online searches, and while Tesla hasn’t disclosed preorder numbers in a long time, there’s an online reservation tracker created by fans that does.
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Back in May 2021, we reported that the Cybertruck had reached 1 million preorders according to this tracker, with the number going up to 1.25 million by August 2021 and 1.3 million by November 2021.
Fast forward to November 2022 and the tracker shows more than 1.6 million reservations for the Tesla Cybertruck, Electrek has found. That is an impressive number, but it’s worth noting the data come from a crowdsourced tracker that has no affiliation with Tesla, so this is not an exact amount but an estimate.
We also need to point out that anyone can place a reservation for the Tesla Cybertruck by paying a $100 fully refundable deposit, which is far from a legally binding agreement.
As a result, the 1.6 million preorders cannot be assimilated to confirmed orders. However, even if 10 percent of the claimed reservations materialize into actual orders, it’s still very strong demand for a vehicle that lacks pricing information and specifications roughly half a year before the expected start of production.
Assuming Tesla does indeed have 1.6 million preorders, it means the company raised more than $162 million in interest-free money from reservation deposits alone, which is not a small feat. As for the booked total revenue from selling 1.6 million Cybertrucks, the tracker estimates it at a whopping $123 billion.
