Arthur Wheaton

Director of Labor Studies, ILR School

The company’s rollout of its Cybertruck has been hampered by delays, on top of an already fraught electric vehicle transition for automakers. Still, anticipation for the vehicle is high, according to Art Wheaton, an expert on transportation industries and director of labor studies at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Wheaton says:

“The rollout has been anything but smooth for the Tesla Cybertruck, with delays in years not months of what was promised. Electric truck sales by Ford, Rivian and others have not been smooth either.

“The electric vehicle transition has been bumpy, and many automakers are delaying products and production due to lower-than-expected demand. However, there is a lot of anticipation for the Cybertruck. There were about 1.9 million nonbinding preorders for the truck that could take more than four or five years to build.

“Tesla has very strong brand recognition and experience with electric vehicles providing some advantages over the brand-new automakers trying to establish themselves in the market. The polarizing styling of the Cybertruck has some risks of failure, but expected impact on Tesla and the market are not anticipated to be impacted greatly due to lower production numbers planned.”