Tesla builds its first Cybertruck four years after unveiling prototype

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN

New York (CNN) — Tesla finally built its first Cybertruck, the company tweeted Saturday, two years behind schedule.

The electric car company tweeted an image of workers in hard hats surrounding the sleek Cybertruck, which it said was built at its Gigafactory near Austin, Texas.

Tesla revealed the prototype for the futuristic Cybertruck in 2019, saying production would begin in late 2021. The striking prototype looked like a large metal trapezoid on wheels, its exteriors made from a stainless steel alloy. However, a demonstration of the truck’s supposedly unbreakable windows in 2019 backfired when a metal ball thrown at the windows did, in fact, break them.

Tesla remained mostly silent about plans for the highly anticipated vehicle, but in 2021 announced an updated version was coming. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the company couldn’t yet debut long-promised new vehicles, such as the Cybertruck pickup, due to supply chain issues.

However, in January Tesla announced it would begin production of the Cybertruck later this year. It has previously said volume production of the vehicle is expected in 2024.

Cybertruck allows Tesla to compete in the lucrative electric pickup market, which includes Rivian’s R1T, the Ford F-150 Lightning and the GMC Hummer EV pickup.

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CNN’s Chris Isidore and Peter Valdes-Dapena contributed to this report.