A leaked email outlines Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s expectations for Cybertruck build quality.
To say it’s been a long road leading toward Tesla Cybertruck production is an understatement. Now, though, after four years in development, the first production trucks are nearly on their way to customers. In fact, not only did Tesla CEO Elon Musk share a photo of his experience with the “production candidate” model on X (formerly known as Twitter), but an internal email on the matter laid out his expectations for build quality and production accuracy moving forward.
A screenshot of the email was leaked through the Cybertruck Owner’s Club forum this week.
“Due to the nature of the Cybertruck, which is made of bright metal with mostly straight edges, any dimensional variation shows up like a sore thumb,” Musk’s email began. It’s no secret Tesla’s grappled with build quality issues in the past as it ramped up production, with the most common complaints including panel gaps and paint imperfections at delivery. Just before trucks start making their way to customers, he laid out the rest of his message to employees assembling the Cybertruck, as well as Tesla’s suppliers.
“All parts for the vehicle, whether internal or from suppliers, need to be designed and built to sub 10 micron accuracy. That means all part dimensions need to be to the third decimal place in millimeters and tolerances need to be specified in single digit microns.”
To the lay person, the jargon here emphasizes the Cybertruck must be produced with extreme accuracy — a difficult and expensive feat to manage when you’re aiming to push high volumes and meet a reasonably affordable price point. Right now, Tesla does not even list exact Cybertruck prices, though most expect it to start around $50,000.
He concludes: “If LEGO and soda cans, which are very low cost, can do this, so can we. Precision predicates perfectionism.”
Mind you, Lego and soda cans are extremely high-volume products and more or less involve one material, be it aluminum or injection molded plastic. When you’re talking about stainless steel, wiring, glass, plastic and all the other components it takes to build this truck…either Tesla has already worked out manufacturing tolerances, or we’re about to learn a great deal more about the company’s internal struggles getting the Cybertruck off the production line.
The Tesla Cybertruck should be making its way to anxiously awaiting customers in the next few weeks, regardless, and we’re curious to see the initial owner reviews.
