"The exterior design of the Cyber off-road wagon is so cool!" On the morning of January 28th, Li Ran (pseudonym), who was in his twenties, arrived at Tesla's Beijing Huamao store. She told Time Finance that this time she was specifically visiting the store to visit Tesla's new model - the Cyber off-road wagon. In her opinion, the design of this new car is very unique.
The Cyber off-road wagon is Tesla's latest electric vehicle, which was officially delivered to the US market in December 2023. After more than a month of delivery, Tesla's Cyber off-road wagon began touring in eight cities in China on January 28th, marking its Asian debut.
The domestic exhibition of the Cyber off-road wagon is the first overseas exhibition after its delivery in the United States. It is reported that Tesla has exhibited a total of 8 Cyber off-road touring vehicles, which will be unveiled in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Xi'an, Chengdu, and Chongqing. The tour will last for several months.
On January 29th, Time Finance visited Tesla's Beijing Huamao Center Experience Store. This is the headquarters of Tesla in Beijing and also the venue for this Cyber Off road Touring Vehicle Beijing Tour. Despite being on Monday, there was still a constant stream of visitors to the site to visit the Cyber off-road station wagon.
Cyber off-road station wagon surrounded by onlookers
The official stated that Tesla's Cyber off-road wagon is positioned for off-road and travel routes.
Unlike traditional pickup truck appearances, the design inspiration for the Tesla Cyber off-road wagon comes from the movie "Back to the Future", and the body exoskeleton is made of aerospace grade ultra hard 30X cold-rolled stainless steel. Tesla claims that this material can reduce surface dents, damage, and corrosion caused by long-term use, and improve the body's protective ability.
Thanks to its unique design and materials, Tesla has stated that the Cyber off-road wagon can travel on any planet's surface. However, since its launch, the unique exterior design of the Cyber off-road wagon has been controversial.
Among the many visitors who came to visit, many felt that the design of the Cyber off-road wagon was too advanced and difficult to accept at the moment; Some people also say that the appearance of this car is very cool, breaking its inherent impression of pickup trucks.
However, Tesla has only opened up the exterior and some functions of the Cyber off-road wagon for display this time, and viewers are still unable to enter the car, in a "only to see, not to touch" stage. According to Time Finance observation, the interior design of the Cyber off-road wagon follows the style of previous models such as the Model 3: the center console screen is 18.5-inch touch screen, a 9.4-inch screen is added to the armrest box, and the rest of the design is still quite simple.
In terms of body size and loading capacity, the Cyber off-road wagon has a length of nearly 5.7 meters, a height of nearly 1.8 meters, and a width of over 2.2 meters. The official claims that the Cyber Off road Touring Vehicle has nearly 5 tons of traction and can carry 1.13 tons of cargo. The huge body size allows the car to accommodate 5 passengers and has a storage space of up to 3423.5L.
In terms of power, the Cyber off-road wagon can travel up to 547 kilometers on a single charge and provides external discharge function. The fastest acceleration from 0 to 100 kilometers is only 2.7 seconds. Tesla stated that the Cyber off-road wagon can provide drivers with handling performance comparable to sports cars, as well as a more ideal turning radius than most sedans.
According to official website information, the Cyber off-road wagon is divided into three models: rear wheel drive, all wheel drive, and Cyber Beast, with prices of $57390 (approximately RMB 412000), $76390 (approximately RMB 549000), and $96390 (approximately RMB 692000), respectively.
At present, the Cyber off-road wagon has been launched and started to be delivered in the US market, but it has been more than 4 years since Tesla released the Cyber off-road wagon. During this period, the mass production and delivery of the Cyber off-road wagon have been repeatedly delayed, and a large number of orders have also accumulated. The reservation tracking data created by fans shows that the latest effective reservation quantity of Cyber off-road wagon has approached 2 million units.
In the eyes of many industry insiders, the Cyber off-road wagon bears the heavy responsibility of boosting Tesla's sales and stock price.
Tesla's data shows that in 2023, it delivered approximately 1.81 million vehicles, just crossing the target line of 1.8 million vehicles; Under non GAAP accounting standards, Tesla's net profit attributable to common shareholders in 2023 was $10.9 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 23%, marking Tesla's first annual profit decline since 2017.
After releasing its Q4 financial report on January 25th, Tesla's stock price plummeted by 12.13% to close at $182.63 per share, and its total market value evaporated overnight by $80.1 billion (approximately RMB 575.4 billion).
Gary Black, a well-known long and co-founder and managing partner of Future Fund at Tesla, said that it is expected that Tesla's sales in 2024 will increase significantly by 53%, boosted by the Cyber off-road wagon, which will further stimulate Tesla's stock price.
Can we enter the Chinese market?
Besides being curious about the exterior design, the most concerning question for the audience is whether the Tesla Cyber off-road wagon can be sold in the Chinese market.
According to Tesla, the Cyber off-road wagon belongs to the passenger car category. However, it is currently not easy for a Cyber off-road wagon with excellent loading capacity to legally operate on Chinese roads:
Firstly, Cyber off-road travel vehicles face issues of vehicle inspection and registration in China. The unique design and size factors pose a challenge to whether the Cyber Off road Touring Vehicle can pass the inspection and registration process of the management agency.
At the same time, Cyber off-road travel vehicles may face policy restrictions similar to pickup truck products in China: for example, pickup trucks are inspected once a year within 10 years, and every six months after 10 years; 15 years or 600000 kilometers of mandatory scrapping; Implement restricted areas for trucks, implement license plate restrictions on trucks, maximum speed of 100km/h, and do not waive highway tolls on major holidays.
In addition, due to the early classification of pickup truck models as light ordinary trucks, most cities in China have strict restrictions on the driving area, route, and time of trucks.
Many policy restrictions have also made it difficult for pickup trucks to become one of the mainstream models in the market.
On January 14th of this year, Tesla CEO Musk even bluntly stated on Twitter, "It will be difficult for a Cyber off-road wagon to be legally on the road in China."
Although there are still many restrictions on the policy side, the field of new energy pickup trucks is gradually heating up in the domestic market.
Since 2022, multiple domestic car companies have successively launched new energy pickup truck products. In 2022, Geely Radar Motors will launch an RD6 electric pickup truck with a price range of 145800 to 268800 yuan; In 2023, Great Wall Cannon released hybrid pickup truck models such as the Shanhai Cannon PHEV and Shanhai Cannon HEV; Changan has also brought a pure electric pickup truck - the 2023 Changan Lantuozhe EV, priced from 279900 yuan.
In the eyes of industry executives such as Li Shufu, Chairman of Geely Holding Group, passenger pickup trucks are showing huge market potential.
On the eve of the 2023 National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Li Shufu, as a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, announced multiple proposals, proposing "timely revision of regulatory policies for pickup trucks, relaxation of consumer usage conditions," "reclassification of pickup truck categories into the category of passenger cars," "inclusion of new energy pickup trucks in the dual point category, integrated management, and active encouragement of enterprise upgrading and transformation.".
It is worth mentioning that Time Finance found on Tesla's official website in China that the rear wheel drive version of the Cyber off-road wagon shows "going on sale in 2025". This may mean that the Cyber off-road wagon is expected to enter the domestic market. The person in charge of Tesla China stated to Time Finance that they have not received any news about this.
At present, Tesla's Cyber off-road station wagon may be able to travel on the moon, but the Cyber off-road station wagon in the Beijing Huamao store is still unable to drive the third ring road 2 kilometers away.