Is Tesla rolling back its ambitious plans for its Cybertruck vehicle?
The electric vehicle manufacturer moved to enact a “no resale” clause on contracts to sell the electric truck earlier this week, according to Business Insider.
“You agree that you will not sell or otherwise attempt to sell the Vehicle within the first year following your Vehicle’s delivery date,” the company required in its terms and conditions.
CYBERTRUCK ORDER AGREEMENT!
You can’t sell Cybertruck within the first year.“You understand and acknowledge that the Cybertruck will first be released in limited quantity. You agree that you will not sell or otherwise attempt to sell the Vehicle within the first year following… pic.twitter.com/oul2WjTgdT
— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) November 11, 2023
Tesla reserved the right to buy back vehicles listed for resale under the term, or impose financial penalties on those selling them.
Critics of the policy questioned its legality.
What possibly could this mean that you buy something and cannot sell it? How does this make sense? “Tesla has banned the resale of the Cybertruck for a year. What threatens violators?” “https://t.co/rGrOnmhMWV
— Jeffrey A Tucker (@jeffreyatucker) November 12, 2023
Was the resale fee too ridiculous?
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The company quickly moved to roll back the unusual clause, with the term disappearing from its website by Tuesday morning.
It’s unclear if the company intends to institute resale restrictions on the first owners of the vehicle, who expect to take custody of the product on Nov. 30, according to Fortune.
Massive batches of #Tesla #Cybertruck castings spotted at #GigaFactory Texas https://t.co/sL3uNLPX7H pic.twitter.com/rUf1m1L4Yt
— TheTeslaLife (@TheTeslaLife) November 13, 2023
The about-face may indicate that Tesla may produce less units of the vehicle than originally planned.
Carmakers tend to use this sort of legal language for vehicles that are released as limited editions, rather than for those that are broadly commercially available.
Edmunds automotive analyst Ivan Drury also described the move as a bid to control the prices for which Cybertrucks are available on the open market.
“It means you misjudged how much you could sell the vehicle for,” Drury said.
“It means there’s a lot of demand out there for your product, but it can give potential buyers or future buyers a bad taste,” he added.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk admitted that the company had “dug its own grave” in regards to expectations about the Cybertruck’s commercial availability last month, according to the Verge.
The CEO also admitted that the vehicle won’t be produced in volume until 2025, according to Auto Week.
