See 1 Photo If you are one of the many would-be Tesla Cybertruck buyers anxiously waiting for your pickup truck to be built, your patience is still a ways away from being rewarded. Production of the electric truck should begin this summer, but don't get too excited about the timing because the numbers will be small, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told investors on a call to report fourth-quarter 2022 earnings. In the earnings report, Tesla says the Cybertruck is on track to begin production "later this year" in Texas and there will be additional details about "our next generation vehicle platform" on March 1. During analyst questions, Musk and chief financial officer Zach Kirkhorn said equipment is being installed at the Texas plant now and production is slated to start this summer. But "the start of production is always very slow," Musk cautioned. "I wouldn't put too much stock in start of production." Volume production of the Cybertruck will not be until 2024, well after Ford, Rivian, and General Motors have entered the electric pickup market. The timing puts it years after Tesla first unveiled the steel truck in 2019 with its stark angles at an event marked by a demonstration of its unbreakable glass windows during which the windows actually broke upon contact. Musk said he was wearing his t-shirt with the smashed glass during the call as he told Wall Street that the Cybertruck "won't be a significant contributor" in 2023. Record Tesla Earnings Still Disappoint Analysts The update comes as Tesla reported a record fourth-quarter profit of nearly $3.7 billion, which was below Wall Street expectations, adding to investor worries about the ability to generate promised sales levels and revenue given economic conditions and increased competition for EVs. All automakers have big EV plans and pundits see them increasingly eating into Tesla's market share. Tesla started the year by cutting vehicle prices by as much as 20 percent to stimulate sales. But the CEO denied reports that demand has fallen below supply—boasting that Tesla is seeing orders at twice the rate of production and some prices could increase as a result. 0:00 / 0:00 Musk: Twitter Shows I'm Popular There are also concerns that Musk's focus has drifted from running Tesla to his challenge of fixing Twitter, which prompted the CEO to defend himself. He says his 127 million followers show he is popular and said Twitter is a powerful tool for driving demand for Tesla. The automaker's outlook calls for 1.8 million vehicles this year—up from 1.3 million in 2022—and if there are no major natural disasters, output could reach 2 million, Musk says. But those figures are still below some of his previous promises. His grandiose plan is to sell 20 million vehicles annually by 2030, making Tesla the largest carmaker by volume. To that end, Tesla announced it will invest $3.6 billion to expand its operations in Reno, Nevada, including two new battery cell plants and increasing production of the Tesla Semi truck. There are also plans to expand the plant in Texas which will build the Cybertruck. Mighty Big Boasts Musk showed his hubris during the earnings call. He described Tesla as the best hardware and software company, as well as a leader in artificial intelligence. "The car is like a robot on four wheels, and Optimus is a robot with two legs. As we move toward solving real-world AI, we don't see anyone close to us," Musk said, noting this has orders of magnitude market cap implications. When (or if) Tesla's Full Self-Driving technology reaches full autonomy, Musk sees Tesla as having the most valuable fleet, with the largest increase, in history. Who is Tesla's competition? When it comes to self-driving vehicles, Musk said he and his Autopilot and FSD team could not think of a distant second. "You can't see second place with a telescope. At least we can't." Maybe, in five years, someone will figure it out, Musk says, but it won't be any of today's existing legacy carmakers. If he had to speculate, he cites Chinese companies as the hardest-working, most competitive, and expects one of them is most likely to be second to Tesla—even though he says Tesla is winning in China and attracting the best talent. And while stock can drop to unbelievably low levels, long term Musk said he believes Tesla can be the most valuable company (not just automaker) "on earth." Alisa Priddle Alisa Priddle joined MotorTrend in 2016 as the Detroit Editor. A Canadian, she received her Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and has been a reporter for 40 years, most of it covering the auto industry because there is no more fascinating arena to cover. It has it all: the vehicles, the people, the plants, the competition, the drama. Alisa has had a wonderfully varied work history as a reporter for four daily newspapers including the Detroit Free Press where she was auto editor, and the Detroit News where she covered the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies, as well as auto trade publication Wards, and two enthusiast magazines: Car & Driver and now MotorTrend. At MotorTrend Alisa is a judge for the MotorTrend Car, Truck, SUV and Person of the Year. She loves seeing a new model for the first time, driving it for the first time, and grilling executives for the stories behind them. In her spare time, she loves to swim, boat, sauna, and then jump into a cold lake or pile of snow.