Elon Musk Says Hotly Anticipated Tesla Pickup Truck Will be Unveiled ‘Later This Year’

Musk subtly let the news slip during a presentation at the company’s Autonomy Investor Day.

byRob Stumpf|
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Tesla's upcoming all-electric pickup is one of the most mysterious and anticipated trucks in the automotive community. While not much is yet known about the model's design or vehicle specifications, company CEO Elon Musk has been extremely vocal about his excitement for the pet project to come to fruition. On Monday, Musk gave a presentation at Tesla's Autonomy Investor Day where he let a small piece of information slip into normal conversation, shedding light that the project's concept is much closer than we might've thought.

The confirmation came in the form of one sentence uttered by Musk during the event's Q&A portion:

"I'm very excited for the Tesla pickup truck unveil later this year," said Musk. "It's gonna be great."

Previous statements by the CEO during the automaker's Q4 2018 earnings call alluded that the all-electric pickup truck "might" be ready for a reveal by summer 2019. At the time, Musk seemed unsure if the vehicle would see light in the stated timeframe, or if it would take longer to complete the task. The new claim made at the Autonomy Investor Day presentation reveals that Musk does, in fact, have reason to believe that the pickup will be revealed this year.

During the Model Y unveiling, Tesla also dropped a teaser photo of the pickup that not a single person caught until later—one of the reasons that this small tidbit of information uttered by Musk could be the company's confirmation that it will unveil the truck in 2019.

So far, the only details leaked regarding the pickup include a supposed Blade Runner-inspired "cyberpunk" design with what Musk described as "300,000 pounds" of towing capacity. Musk had previously joked about making a mini version of the Semi, so all bets are off when trying to figure out what to expect.

Musk hasn't hid his excitement for the pickup from the public. In fact, he's done quite the opposite, revealing that the automaker would produce a pickup immediately following its long-awaited Model Y crossover. Though high-volume production of the Model Y isn't expected to be reached until 2020 at the earliest, that likely doesn't stymie the chances of a pre-production concept unveiling.

It's possible that more information on the upcoming truck could be revealed during Tesla's Q1 2019 earning's call which will take place later Wednesday evening.

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