Tesla Cybertruck to get quad motors, says Musk

December 2023: Cybertruck pricing and specs

You might be glad, or you might've hoped it wouldn't happen – but Elon's teenage wet dream, the Cybertruck, is actually real and finally in customer hands.

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According to new Twitter posts from Tesla founder Elon Musk, the company is developing a quad-motor Cybertruck with crab-walking capabilities.

Musk revealed the plans when replying to a tweet suggesting Tesla has paused the Cybertruck configurator to drop the single motor variant and focus exclusively on dual-, tri- and quad-motor powertrains.

The tweet also implies Cybertruck production will include the quad-motor variant from the outset, substantiating rumours about the axed single motor variant, as Tesla previously said dual- and tri-motor versions would come a year after the base.

Naturally, the Cybertruck news provoked Twitter users to ask more questions, like whether it could turn like a tank. Musk acknowledged it could, adding something else unexpected…

Not much else on the quad-motor Cybertruck is known. But driving each individual wheel independently with diagonal manoeuvrability will introduce innovative engineering similar to GMC Hummer EVs.

The quad-motor variant's arrival could see it overtake the tri-motor Cybertruck as the most powerful and capable in the model range, improving on that variant's claim to accelerate to 97km/h from zero in under three seconds and tow as much as 6350 kilograms.

A four-motor Cybertruck also gives Tesla a rival to the Rivian R1T, a full-sized pick-up truck with quad motors that can put out 596kW/1120Nm combined. A less powerful quad-motor R1T is currently on sale for US$67,500 (AU$95,708) in the United States in Explore trim.

For reference, Tesla has previously priced the Cybertruck at US$69,900 (AU$95,230) for the tri-motor variant.

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Cybertruck production will begin in 2022 at the company’s Texan Gigafactory in Austin after being delayed. The Cybertruck was unveiled in 2019.

But this won’t be the first time Musk has promised extreme new Teslas attached to lengthy wait times on Twitter, either. Of course, the world's still waiting for the Roadster and only just getting the Model S Plaid. And it's now reported Tesla is prioritising Model Y production over the Cybertruck.

As we’ve known, the Cybertruck will be built only to North American regulations, ruling it out for European and other international markets – but Musk has said a smaller version could be built for markets like ours in future.

Confusingly, however, you can place a refundable $150 deposit on Tesla’s Australian website for the Cybertruck.