Ford Allegedly Spends $250K on a Cybertruck, Elon Musk: ‘Worth It’
Cybertrucks are starting to sell at auction for insane markups. The electric trucks come with a clause preventing the original owners from flipping them within the first year of ownership. However, there are ways around Tesla’s rules, and so far, rumor has it that Porsche and Ford have paid up for theirs.
It seems that OEMs are not-so-quietly working to get their hands on the EV truck. The assumption is that these automakers are engaging in an age-old competitor product intel move. They’re shelling out max dollarage to buy the Cybertruck as a consumer and then study the heck out of it.
The base model CT starts at $60,990 and goes to $99,990 for its top trim, “Cyberbeast.” This week, headlines swirled around Porsche paying $244K at auction for its model. Now, X user Sawyer Merritt posted a pic of a CT charging at Ford’s testing grounds in Detriot. Rumor says Ford paid $250K.
To both cases, Elon Musk has responded almost nonchalantly.
After hearing about the Porsche CT purchase in a thread comment, Musk said, “Did they? I have a lot of respect for Porsche engineering, although they have some ways to go with electric to match their combustion skills. When they take it apart, they will discover a lot of new technology.”
To the Ford rumor, Musk replied, “Worth it.”
According to Tesla rules, if the original owner wants to sell in the first year, they must give Tesla the option to buy it back. They also need written permission to sell to a third party. Additionally, Tesla can penalize the original owner up to $50,000 for reselling before the one-year mark.
The terms state, “You agree that in the event you breach this provision, or Tesla has a reasonable belief that you are about to breach this provision, Tesla may seek injunctive relief to prevent the transfer of title of the Vehicle or demand liquidated damages from you in the amount of $50,000 or the value received as consideration for the sale or transfer, whichever is greater.”
The agreement also says that Telsa can refuse to sell vehicles to the original owner again, a la Ferrari.
The CT’s design, tech, and features are so different from the rest of the truck market that they’re worth hurling a full research budget at. Manufacturers study OG products that have disrupted the market to create their own, sometimes better-serving, successors.
Source: Bezinga
