The Cybertruck Commands a Premium, but It’s Less than You’d Think

The Tesla Cybertruck is a unique vehicle, to say the least, both on the road and in the marketplace. The EV, packed with high-tech features and adorned with sharp angles, gets attention everywhere it appears. And despite teething troubles, the secondary market for the Cybertruck reflects this nothing-else-like-it appeal. New examples selling at a big premium relative to their sticker price.

It looks like a different kind of truck, but just how differently does the market treat it?

The Cybertruck joins the new vehicle marketplace in 2024, amidst slowing sales growth for EVs in general. Gone are the days of supply shortages and, for the most part, the annoyingly large added dealer markups (MSRP + dealer fees) common among popular new vehicles in 2022. In those days, new EV trucks such as the Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, and GMC Hummer EV were popular, and they regularly had transacted well over sticker. That the Cybertruck is now enjoying similar markups even in a cooler market speaks to its popularity.

Measuring the premium of those early EV trucks isn’t hard, but does require a little more time than many of these behemoths take to get from 0-60. With the growth of online auction sites, a couple of hundred examples of those three have been auctioned as nearly new vehicles. Often, the auctions contain the window sticker price of the truck when it was new. The secondary market premium is the final price (hammer price plus fees) over the window sticker price. That premium shows how much more someone will pay to jump the line and get one of the hot new EV trucks in their driveway ASAP.

When the GMC Hummer EVs started hitting the auction market in the spring of 2022, they began selling for between two and two-and-a-half times the $112,595 sticker price (a premium of +100% to +150%). One even sold as a charity lot for $500K. That premium drifted down to about 50 percent by late 2022. By 2023, the median premium was still 39%, but by 2024, some examples are selling for sticker price.

The 2022+ Ford F-150 Lightning reached the secondary market a couple of months later in 2022, but the premium was still around 33 percent for the fall of 2022. By the fourth quarter of 2022, the premium had dropped to 15 percent. In 2023, the premium continued to drop, and in 2024, the now slightly used trucks are selling at a discount.

As an EV startup, Rivian is the most similar to Tesla, but its innovative R1T truck isn’t nearly as in-your-face different as the Cybertruck. It did beat it to market, however, and the first examples sold on the market in the spring of 2022. In that first month, the average premium was 73 percent over the sticker price. Much like the other two launched in 2022, the R1T has continued to depreciate, with the first model year trucks now selling at an average discount of 16% to their original sticker price.

Notably, the supply of nearly new examples of these three EV trucks in the secondary market is still comprised of first model year vehicles, presumably because supply has caught up with demand for the 2023 and 2024 model years.

The Cybertruck has also been enjoying a premium in the secondary market, with an average premium of 35 percent over sticker. That the truck has only been available for less than three months means it is still early days. For the big splash it has made, however, its early secondary market premiums are only stronger than the Lightning’s: Comparing it to premiums enjoyed by the other three, the Cybertruck’s 35 percent puts it slightly above the market performance of the Ford, and well below that of the Rivian R1T.

What’s different? The market in 2024 isn’t the same as it was in 2022, though, so that may account for the slightly lower premium for Tesla’s truck. That said, it’s not the only vehicle commanding a significant premium in a cooler market. The other newly available 2024 model that also currently enjoys a premium isn’t an EV, but it is from an automaker with a similarly fervent fan base. The 2024 Porsche 911 Dakar is also an innovative vehicle, and is off-road capable, but based on a limited amount of public secondary sales, it too is selling at an average of 40 percent above sticker price in the early months of 2024. Given its limited production and the trajectories of past special 911s, though, it’s likely that the valuation path of these two vehicles won’t stay the same for long.

Context really is everything: The Tesla Cybertruck is commanding a premium, and its popularity is reflected in secondary market sales. This wedge-shaped Tesla might be, well, different, but its market behavior so far tracks the paths of EV trucks before it. Regardless of the Cybertruck’s novel approach, the premiums it currently commands are unlikely to persist.

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