Tesla Cybertruck and Model Y gain tons of mindshare, survey shows

Tesla Cybertruck is starting to get on truck buyers’ radar, even edging out Dodge’s best-selling truck, and Model Y attracts a lot of interest from car buyers, according to a new survey.

Model Y is unsurprisingly in high demand.

It is based on the Model 3, which is already a best-selling electric vehicle, and it fixes some of the biggest complaints people had with the electric sedan – namely a bigger trunk opening.

A new survey published by UBS analyst Patrick Hummel confirmed the strong interest in the vehicle with 28% of almost 10,000 respondents in six countries stating that they will “likely consider” buying the Tesla Model Y (via Barron’s):

“The survey shows 28% of global respondents would likely consider buying Model Y. Which compares to 26% interested in Model 3 back in 2018.”

In the past, Tesla has predicted that Model Y demand should surpass Model 3 demand and even put a target a producing between 500,000 and 1 million Model Y electric SUVs globally.

As we reported earlier this month, Tesla started confirming Model Y deliveries to customers in the US.

The automaker has given some customers delivery windows between March 15 and 30, indicating that deliveries will start during the second half of the month.

Last week, we reported on Tesla being spotted stockpiling some brand-new Model Y SUVs in the parking lot of its factory ahead of the start of deliveries.

Now Tesla Cybertruck demand has been harder to predict because of the polarizing design of the electric pickup truck.

Nonetheless, the same survey found that 18% of the respondents in the US would “likely consider” buying the Cybertryck:

“18% of U.S. survey respondents would likely consider buying Cybertruck. In the head-to-head comparison, the Chevy Silverado and the F-150 would still be preferred over Cybertruck…but Cybertruck is ahead of the RAM 1500.”

Last year, CEO Elon Musk announced that Tesla received over 250,000 reservations for the Cybertruck within a week of unveiling the vehicle.

Tesla stopped updating its reservation tally, but other crowdsourced estimated counts put the total between 450,000 and 500,000 Cybertruck reservations.

We reported last week on the states where most Cybertruck pre-orders are coming from. Most reservation holders are looking to buy the dual motor and tri-motor versions of the electric pickup truck.

Tesla said that it plans to launch the two higher-end versions of the Cybertruck in late 2021.

Those two electric trucks will have between 300 and 500 miles of range, are equipped with dual- and tri-motor powertrains, and start at $49,000.

Electrek’s Take

Model Y demand is unsurprising to me. I think it has all the ingredients to take off as one of the best-selling vehicles, electric or not, ever.

The Cybertruck is definitely a tougher sell, especially when it comes to convincing truck buyers.

However, the interesting thing is that Tesla might not even have to do that. With the incredible specs that it plans to deliver in the truck, it might create a whole new type of truck buyer – mainly of them likely to come from its existing fanbase of Model 3, Model S, Model X, and eventually Model Y owners.

That demand alone should make the electric pickup truck program successful and building off of that success, I predict that the Cybertruck will slowly win over the broader truck market, which is what Tesla ultimately needs to do to have a positive impact on the segment – a segment that the environment badly needs to be electrified.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.