Tesla shares rise as Elon Musk claims Cybertruck orders hit 200,000

Tesla shares rose 4% on Monday after CEO Elon Musk tweeted over the weekend that the company had already received 200,000 orders for the its futuristic Cybertruck pickup.

The truck failed to impress Wall Street last week at a calamitous unveiling where its armoured glass was shattered by Musk during a launch demonstration, reports Reuters.

The Cybertruck is made of stainless steel used in rockets and will retail at $39,900. In the aftermath of its launch analysts remained unimpressed, doubting the design’s mass appeal.

Tesla opened preorders immediately, however, and allowed potential buyers to book the truck by depositing a fully refundable $100, compared to the $1,000 Tesla charged for booking Model 3 sedans in 2016, drawing the flood of reservations and sending the company’s shares back up on Monday.

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Tesla received 325,000 orders for the Model 3 in the first week of bookings three years ago, and the initial number for the trucks suggested preorders could rival that. 

Not all orders translate into sales as many are likely eventually to be canceled and money refunded to depositors. Tesla plans to start manufacturing the Cybertruck around late-2021. 

Even with Model 3’s bigger deposit there was high churn, Roth Capital analyst Craig Irwin said. “$100 deposit for the truck? That’s fluffy. Just a fluffy order number.”

From touting the features of Cybertruck to taking a dig at Ford’s F-150 pickup truck, Musk has been tweeting furiously to boost sales since Thursday’s launch. 

"Better truck than an F-150, faster than a Porsche 911," he tweeted here over the weekend, posting a video of the Cybertruck dragging the F-150 uphill.