Tesla's electric Cybertruck, Elon Musk's take on a pickup truck, was unveiled to much fanfare, and debate, last week. Now Musk claims he has already hooked 200,000 interested customers.
Preorders on the truck, which is scheduled to hit the production line in two years, began last Thursday. The 200,000 sign-ups Musk tweeted about have so far only placed a down payment to reserve a spot in line for the vehicle.
Musk, who has been talking about the Cybertruck for some time, called it "an armored personnel carrier from the future." But some of the features on the demo model didn't quite live up to expectations at the unveiling.
During the "Armor Glass" demonstration, Tesla's chief designer Franz von Holzhausen hit the frame with a sledgehammer to prove it wouldn't cause a dent. He then threw a metal ball at the supposedly shatterproof glass windows, which shattered, not once, but two separate times. In response to the mishap, Musk shared a video, which he says was filmed before the launch, that shows the windows surviving a hit from a metal ball.
Shares of Tesla ($TSLA) fell after the truck's windows shattered on stage Thursday, but rose early Monday again after Musk tweeted "200k," referring to the deposits Tesla received for the Cybertruck. Over the weekend Musk also tweeted that most people involved in preordering indicated that they would opt for the highest pricepoint triple-motor option at $69,900 or the mid-priced dual-engine option. At the time, he said only 17 percent of preorders were for the cheapest, single-motor option.
The unconventionally-shaped truck is made from cold-rolled stainless steel, matching SpaceX's Starship rocket, which is another Musk venture, and Tesla says its most powerful model will be able to tow 14,000 pounds.
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
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