Tesla started delivering its a lot delayed, extremely anticipated Cybertruck pickup to prospects on Thursday, getting into one of the crucial profitable however aggressive segments of the auto business.

With its stainless-steel physique and sharp angles, the Cybertruck is not like pickups from Ford Motor, Common Motors and Ram, which dominate the market. With a beginning value of $100,000 for the top-of-the-line model, it’s Tesla’s first fully new passenger car in additional than three years however arrives lengthy after different automakers started promoting battery-powered pickups.

That has analysts asking simply who will purchase the Cybertruck. Will it steal prospects from conventional automakers, attraction to a special crowd or grow to be a expensive flop? Tesla has mentioned tons of of 1000’s of individuals have positioned $100 refundable deposits on Cybertrucks. However there is no such thing as a assure these reservations will translate into gross sales.

“It does beg the query, what sort of buyer is Tesla on the lookout for?” mentioned Ben Rose, president of Battle Highway Analysis, a agency that tracks electrical car and expertise corporations, who expects Tesla shares to outperform the market. “It appears to be like like one thing lowered from the lunar module to gather rocks on the moon.”

Throughout an occasion Thursday in Austin, Texas, the place the truck will probably be constructed, Elon Musk, the chief government of Tesla, answered criticism that it was not a severe working car. Movies confirmed the Cybertruck beating vehicles from Ford and Rivian in a hauling contest, and getting used to hold metal and pull equipment at a development web site.

“It’s an extremely helpful truck. It’s not just a few grandstanding showpiece,” Mr. Musk mentioned, including, “like me.”

The quip was maybe a reference to the firestorm he ignited Wednesday when he mentioned that advertisers which have pulled promoting from X, the social media web site previously referred to as Twitter and which he owns, have been making an attempt to “blackmail” him as a result of he endorsed an antisemitic submit. “Don’t promote,” Mr. Musk mentioned on the DealBook Summit in New York, addressing the manufacturers. He used an expletive a number of occasions for emphasis.

First displayed publicly in 2019, the Cybertruck has suffered from manufacturing issues stemming from its odd design and the selection of stainless-steel fairly than the lighter metal or aluminum usually utilized in vehicles and vehicles. Gross sales have been delayed by greater than two years, and Mr. Musk has warned traders that the corporate could not be capable to manufacture the truck in giant numbers till 2025.

“There will probably be monumental challenges in reaching quantity manufacturing with Cybertruck and making the Cybertruck cash-flow optimistic,” Mr. Musk mentioned in October.

There’s a lot at stake for the standard carmakers, too. Individuals purchase 2.5 million pickups a yr, and people gross sales are an necessary supply of income for Ford, G.M. and Stellantis, which owns Ram, Jeep and Chrysler. In the US, pickups are sometimes bought as luxurious automobiles. Effectively-heeled Europeans or Asians have a tendency to purchase sedans and sport utility automobiles from Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Audi. Many prosperous Individuals purchase Ford F-150s with 18-speaker sound programs and heated steering wheels.

Tesla mentioned on its web site {that a} two-wheel-drive model of the Cybertruck will promote for $61,000, however not be obtainable till 2025. Variations that begin at $80,000 and $100,000 will probably be obtainable subsequent yr.

The primary consumers are prone to be well-to-do expertise savants and collectors, Mr. Rose mentioned. The Cybertruck is unlikely to have as a lot attraction to company fleet operators like utilities or development corporations. Neither is the mannequin prone to be inexpensive or sensible for landscapers, drywall installers and different small-business homeowners.

That could be a reduction to the standard carmakers. About one-fifth of the F-150s that Ford sells go to enterprise or authorities prospects. Ford’s Professional division, which focuses on business prospects, makes much more cash as a proportion of its gross sales than the division that sells gasoline automobiles to people. (The division that sells electrical automobiles to customers misplaced cash.)

Some companies purchase pickup vehicles with out cargo beds, as an alternative putting in specialised packing containers or platforms suited to their wants. That will probably be unimaginable with the Cybertruck’s one-piece physique.

Even when companies purchase vehicles with commonplace beds, they usually add equipment like device packing containers or ladder racks that may not match within the Cybertruck. (Most pickups from different producers look and function a lot the identical to allow them to accommodate these add-ons.)

Up to now, gross sales of electrical pickups and different automobiles to business prospects have been modest. However Ford sees potential to dominate a fast-growing market the place there received’t be a lot competitors from Tesla. Ford’s E-Transit electrical vans have 50 % of their market in the US and Europe, Ted Cannis, chief government of Ford Professional, mentioned in an interview. The electrical model of the F-150, referred to as the Lightning, has nearly no competitors amongst business prospects, he added.

Ford can earn extra income from enterprise and authorities prospects by promoting them companies like software program that tracks the areas of their staff and creates environment friendly routes. Ford can even assist prospects arrange charging stations for fleets of pickups and vans. “We’ve got to make the transition as simple as attainable,” Mr. Cannis mentioned.

There was no indication that Tesla plans to offer comparable companies.

Advertising and marketing for the Cybertruck emphasizes its velocity, consolation and toughness. Like Ford’s F-150 Lightning, the Tesla pickup will include energy retailers for instruments or home equipment and might energy a house quickly throughout a blackout.

Throughout the occasion Thursday, a video confirmed a person taking pictures bullets at a Cybertruck. “The apocalypse may come alongside at any second,” Mr. Musk quipped. “Right here at Tesla we’ve got the best in apocalyptic expertise.”

Electrical pickups have been obtainable since late 2021, when Rivian, a younger electrical car firm, started promoting the R1T. Ford started promoting the F-150 Lightning in 2022. G.M. started promoting an electrical model of its Silverado pickup in restricted numbers this yr.

Up to now, the response from consumers has been combined. Electrical pickups accounted for under 3 % of the electrical car market within the first 9 months of 2023. And simply 2 % of all pickups bought in the US have been electrical, in response to estimates by Kelley Blue Guide and Battle Highway.

However gross sales are rising quicker than the general auto market even when the tempo has slowed just lately. F-150 Lightning gross sales within the first 9 months of the yr grew 40 % to greater than 12,000 automobiles, in response to Kelley Blue Guide. Gross sales of Rivian pickups grew 28 % to greater than 14,000 automobiles.