Off to the races! Elon Musk hands the first ten Cybertruck customers the keys and watches them leave the lot four years after the futuristic EV was first announced (but Tesla quietly doubles the starting price to $61,000)

Elon Musk handed over the keys to the first ten Cybertruck owners during a live event to mark Tesla finally delivering the futuristic truck after four years of delays.

The CEO appeared cheerful as he watched the steel-plated electric vehicles roll onto the stage before inviting everyone to take a seat in their new truck.

Moments after the livestream ended, Tesla updated its website with new prices, showing that the price of the Cybertuck has almost doubled from $39,999 to $60,990.

However, Musk failed to mention the increase during the 25-minute event hosted at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Austin, Texas.

Each of the ten owners smiled as Musk opened the door of their new Cybertrucks and invited them to sit in the passenger seat – a Tesla employee drove off the stage.

“I hope you enjoy your car,” Musk said as he introduced an early Cybertruck buyer to his new car.

The steel-clad vehicle features a 6-foot-long and 4-foot-wide bed that can carry up to 2,5,000 pounds, a towing capacity of 11,000 pounds and a ground clearance of 17 inches.

The starting price wasn’t the only one that rose: all-wheel drive now costs $79,990, and the Cyberbeast costs $99,990.

There was speculation that Tesla would increase the price due to adjustments and upgrades made since the prototype was unveiled in 2019.

There are more than two million people on the waiting list, which requires a $100 deposit to secure a spot.

The event started with Musk joking with the audience, which was a very different mood from the day before when he told Disney CEO Bob Iger to “go f*** own.”

The comment was made when Musk was asked about Iger’s decision to pull advertising from X.

But the fowl mood continued on Thursday, when Musk stood tall in the bed of a Cybertruck and proclaimed the vehicle’s durability.

He Even Tesla design chief Franz von Holshausen had the 2019 test recreated that saw unbreakable glass with a metal ball.

This time, however, a baseball was used, which bounced off the ‘armored glass’.

It’s unclear when the more than two million other Cybertrucks will ship, but Musk said production should reach about 250,000 annually by 2025.

Tesla has faced “tremendous challenges in achieving volume production” with the Cybertruck due to its new technology and design, Musk said in a recent statement.

“We’ve dug our own grave with Cybertruck,” Musk said last month, warning that it would take a year to 18 months for the vehicle to make a significant contribution to cash flow.

Experts said Cybertruck’s new body material and unconventional, futuristic styling make production more complicated and expensive and threaten to alienate traditional pickup truck buyers who focus on utilities.

A few years ago, Musk had floated the idea that if people didn’t like the futuristic Cybertruck design, Tesla could “build a normal-looking truck.”

Eric Noble, president of automotive consultancy The CARLAB, said: “The bigger problem for the Cybertruck is that the Cybertruck isn’t really designed for pickup truck users.

“It’s going to have a much more limited appeal than a Ram or an F-Series,” he said of the popular pickups from Dodge and Ford.

Telsa’s Cybertruck became a sensation when it was unveiled to the world in November 2019.

The celebrated event quickly became a nightmare for Musk after the glass of his new electric ‘Cybertruck’ was smashed just after he boasted that it was ‘unbreakable’.

During the announcement of the truck – which looks like an armored vehicle with angular sides – Tesla design chief Franz von Holshausen tried to prove that the glass was “unbreakable” by throwing a heavy metal ball at close range.

Musk was heard muttering “oh my fucking God” as the glass shattered.

Since this first prototype, design adjustments have been made to Cybertruck, mainly to ensure that it is more durable and can better withstand the impact of rocks and debris that can fly up when traveling at high speeds through rough terrain.

The Cybertruck’s exoskeleton is now made of a new type of stainless steel that is strong enough to withstand the impact of a 9mm pistol, Musk said.

The CEO has previously blamed battery deliveries for the delay, saying each Cybertruck would “literally cost a million dollars each or more” if Tesla had started production of the futuristic vehicle in 2021.

And it wasn’t until July of this year that the world saw an image of the first Cybertruck rolling off the assembly line at the Austin factory.