Tesla’s Bold Pickup Truck To Cost Under $49,000 Undercutting Rivian R1T By $20K

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has revealed that the company’s upcoming all-electric pickup truck will cost less than $50,000.

“You should be able to buy a really great truck for $49k or less,” Musk said during a podcast with Tesla enthusiast Ryan McCaffrey.

To put that into perspective, the forthcoming Rivian R1T pickup is set to start at $69,000, a significant premium over the Tesla. For what it’s worth, the Rivian will be marketed and sold as a premium pickup truck loaded with features but it remains to be seen how basic, or premium, the Tesla pickup will be.

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What we do know is that the Tesla will be big and come loaded with technologies. Tesla once teased its pickup as being so massive that it could fit a Ford F-150 in its bed, but the production vehicle isn’t expected to be that big. It will have six seats, 400-500 miles (643 km – 804 km) of range, come with a potent dual-motor powertrain, and offer up to 300,000 lbs (136,077 kg) of towing capacity.

Musk has made no secret of the fact that he is very excited about the company’s upcoming pickup truck and late last year, said he wasn’t even bothered if only a small number of people purchase it.

“I’m personally super-excited by this pickup truck. It’s something I’ve been wanting to make for a long time. And I’ve been iterating sort of designs with Franz… It’s like I really wanted something that’s like super-futuristic cyberpunk,” he said.

The Tesla pickup truck will be unveiled in prototype guise before the end of the year.