Tesla Takes Off with Cybertruck as Best-Selling EV Pickup Truck in US

Image credit: Tesla

Tesla has reached a new stage of development, having received contracts for the purchase of its cars from Chinese government agencies. Giga Berlin gets approval for expansion, Cybertruck becomes the best-selling electric pickup truck in the US, and more in today's news roundup with Jowua.

Model Y approved by Chinese government for corporate use

Model Y became the first Tesla vehicle to be approved for government procurement in China. Last week, it was reported that the vehicle was included in Jiangsu Province's new energy vehicle (NEV) procurement catalog. An undisclosed number of vehicles are planned for purchase in the 2024-2025 budget year. Later, it became known that Model Y had already been purchased by several state-owned enterprises in Shanghai for corporate use. According to a statement from the Lingang Investment Promotion Service Center, the vehicles were purchased by a few enterprises, including Chengtou Xinggang Group and Lingang Investment Holding Group.

Model 3 gets a new color

Tesla has made Model 3 available in Quicksilver for markets receiving shipments from Giga Shanghai. Originally, this color was only available for Model Y, produced at Giga Berlin. This year, Tesla's Chinese factory began producing Model Y in Quicksilver, and now Model 3 is available in the new color. Model Y in this color is also available from Giga Texas.

Giga Berlin may expand

The German Tesla factory has received permission to expand. This will allow the company to increase its production capacity to 1 million vehicles per year, from 500,000 units now. The permit allows Tesla to begin construction work on an existing factory and does not apply to the expansion of the freight station. At the moment, it is known that that factory has increased production to 300,000 cars per year. The factory employs about 12,000 people.

Cybertruck is the best-selling electric pickup truck in the US in 2024

Tesla began delivering Cybertruck in late 2023 and has since delivered thousands of units, ramping up production significantly this year. After manufacturers published delivery data for Q2 2024, it became clear that the Tesla pickup truck is superior to its competitors.

According to Tesla, 21,551 "other models" were delivered last quarter, including Model S, Model X, Cybertruck, and Semi. Based on the number of vehicles listed as included in the recalls, Tesla produced 7,810 Cybertrucks between April 4 and June 6. Given that Giga Texas has already reached production of 1,300 Cybertrucks per week, the factory likely produced and delivered more than 12,000 pickup trucks in Q2. That makes it the best-selling electric pickup truck in the US, while competitors like Ford and Rivian have sold no more than 8,000 units of each of their models.