Cybertruck Toy Release Delayed Five Months, but Don’t Blame Tesla

The Cybertruck toy, which comes with a smashed-window sticker, won't ship til May 2021. (Engadget via YouTube)

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Tesla Inc. watchers know all about blown deadlines for product releases by the electric vehicle manufacturer, but even fans of the brand who are too young to drive won’t be getting a promised Cybertruck stocking stuffer this year.

Don’t blame Elon Musk.

Mattel Inc. is telling customers who pre-ordered scaled-down toy versions of Tesla’s first truck that “unexpected challenges” forced it to miss a mid-December shipping target. The toymaker, which offered two limited editions in February, said in an email the radio-controlled pickups won’t ship for another five months.

“Due to an unforeseen production issue, we are experiencing delays in the shipment of our Hot Wheels R/C Cybertrucks,” a Mattel spokesperson said Dec. 17. “We are diligently working to ensure these products arrive by May 1, 2021.”

The real Cybertruck isn’t expected to go on sale until late next year after a new factory under construction in Austin, Texas, is finished.

Mattel began taking orders for the toys — a 3-inch model for $20 and a larger 1:10 scale version for $400 — in February, and they’re now sold out.

Tesla CEO Musk unveiled the Cybertruck three months earlier, at a November 2019 event when the prototype vehicle’s window was smashed. In homage to that mishap, which went viral, the larger toy includes a “reusable cracked-window vinyl sticker.”

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