- To qualify for the deal, the Cybertruck must include Full Self-Driving capability.
- Buyers must take delivery of their electric truck before the end of June.
- Tesla likely aims to clear Cybertruck inventory before the current quarter closes.
The fallout between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump seemed inevitable. Put two billionaires with outsize egos and an insatiable appetite for power in the same spotlight, and conflict becomes a foregone conclusion. While their very public spat may be unwelcome news for Tesla shareholders, it could actually benefit anyone considering getting behind the wheel of a new Cybertruck.
Read: Cybertruck Owner Wanted To Show How Awesome FSD Is, It Crashed Instead
Not long after Musk and Trump exchanged social media barbs, Tesla rolled out a new 0% APR financing deal for Cybertruck buyers, but only if they also spring for the $8,000 Full Self-Driving option and put a minimum down payment of 4% plus applicable taxes and fees. Prefer to skip the down payment? You can, but the APR rises slightly to 0.99%.
A Deal With Some Strings Attached
To take advantage of the offer, buyers must finance for 60 months and take delivery of their new Cybertruck by the end of June. So, what does that actually look like? Let’s use the $79,990 AWD model as a reference. Without Full Self-Driving (FSD) or the promotional rate, the truck will cost $1,571 a month over 60 months before taxes with the 5.54% APR, adding up to $94,660 or $96,655 with the $1,995 destination fee included.
Add the $8,000 FSD option, and the MSRP rises to $87,990 or $89,985 with destination. With Tesla’s 0.99% APR deal, that works out to $1,538 a month before taxes and fees, totaling $92,280 over the loan term without anything down. Opt for the full 0% APR by putting $4,000 down and selecting FSD, and the monthly payment drops to $1,433 before taxes and fees. That brings the total to $89,980.
While it’s possible the deal was announced purely in response to Tesla’s falling share price, it’s also likely that Tesla is trying to clear as much Cybertruck inventory as possible. The automaker is believed to have more than 3,500 examples of its all-electric truck sitting around, and likely wants to offload as many of them as possible before the end of the second quarter.
This is not the first time that Tesla has recently offered a 0% financing deal. In April, it announced a similar 0% APR deal for the Model 3. Tesla does offer the option to adjust the down payment, and even reduce it to zero, but this obviously increases the repayments.
While the Cybertruck was the talk of the industry in late 2023, it has lost much of its allure. Fewer than 50,000 units are believed to have been sold so far, a far cry from Tesla’s original goal of producing 250,000 annually. That’s even further off from Elon Musk’s more ambitious claim of hitting 1 million sales per year.
