Exhibit B · chronology
Timeline
November 2019 to July 2026: every load-bearing event in the Cybertruck story, from the reveal-stage glass cracking to the flash-sale price cuts.
Filter the chronology by thread. Promises tracks what was claimed and targeted; production tracks slips, builds, and program milestones; market tracks prices, sales, and demand mechanics; recalls tracks safety campaigns and investigations; culture tracks the moments that shaped public perception without being, by themselves, evidence of anything.
Cybertruck revealed in Hawthorne, CA
Announced pricing: $39,900 single-motor / $49,900 dual-motor / $69,900 tri-motor. Range targets 250+/300+/500+ miles, payload up to 3,500 lb, towing up to 14,000+ lb, production targeted for late 2021 (tri-motor 2022).
Armor Glass demonstration fails on stage
A sledgehammer strike to the door is survived, but steel-ball throws crack both the front and rear windows in front of a live audience — an image that follows the truck permanently.
Musk explains the window failure
Via Twitter, Musk says the preceding sledgehammer strike cracked the glass base, causing the ball-throw failures, and posts footage of a prior successful test.
About 200,000 reservations claimed
Musk reports roughly 200,000 reservations within days. Deposits were $100 and fully refundable — a demand signal, not orders; contemporaneous coverage flagged exactly that.
Musk: 250,000–300,000 Cybertrucks a year
The first executive-stated annual volume ambition on record, reported by Automotive News.
First confirmed slip past the 2021 target
Tesla's order page changes to indicate production 'in 2022.'
'We dug our own grave with Cybertruck'
Musk's own words at the shareholder meeting while reaffirming a mid-2023 target — the third public re-targeting since the reveal.
Volume ambition restated: 250,000–500,000 a year
At the shareholder meeting, Musk calls a quarter-million a year 'a reasonable guess' with upside to 500,000.
First Cybertruck built at Giga Texas
Announced almost four years after the reveal; volume ramp still far off.
Musk sets the benchmark this site measures against
Q3 2023 earnings call: 'somewhere on the order of a quarter-million Cybertrucks a year... I think we'll probably reach it sometime in 2025.' He simultaneously warns of 'enormous challenges' reaching volume production.
First deliveries — at very different prices
Delivery event at Giga Texas: AWD $79,990, Cyberbeast $99,990, RWD listed at $60,990 'available 2025.' EPA range 250/340/320 miles by trim; towing tops out at 11,000 lb; 0–60 figures meet or beat the 2019 promises.
Recall 24V-051 — warning-light font (OTA)
First Cybertruck-inclusive recall: FMVSS-noncompliant warning indicator font across 2.19 million Teslas, fixed over the air.
Surface rust reports surface
Owners document orange spotting on stainless panels within weeks. Tesla attributes it to embedded surface contamination such as rail dust, not corrosion of the base metal, and publishes cleaning guidance.
Recall 24V-276 — accelerator pedal (physical), deliveries paused
3,878 trucks: an unapproved assembly lubricant let the pedal pad dislodge and jam into trim. Deliveries were held while the physical fix was staged.
The cheapest trim is withdrawn before ever shipping
Tesla stops taking orders for the $60,990 RWD, leaving only $99,990 and $119,990 Foundation configurations orderable.
Recall 24V-718 — rearview camera delay (OTA)
27,185 trucks: the backup image could stay blank up to ~8 seconds against a 2-second standard.
Reservation backlog exhausted
Tesla begins selling Cybertrucks without a reservation about ten months after first deliveries — the million-plus queue had converted its willing buyers.
NHTSA opens FSD reduced-visibility investigation (PE24031)
Roughly 2.41 million Teslas with FSD, including Cybertrucks, examined for behavior in sun glare and airborne obscurants.
First (and last reaffirmed) positive gross margin
Tesla states Cybertruck achieved a positive gross margin for the first time in Q3 2024. No equivalent claim has been repeated in any quarter since.
Recall 24V-832 — drive inverter (physical)
2,431 trucks with a specific MOSFET batch could lose propulsion without warning; inverters replaced in service.
Fatal crash in Piedmont, CA
Three occupants die in a post-crash fire; the driver's blood alcohol was far over the limit. Later wrongful-death suits allege door-egress design impeded escape — a litigation claim, not a regulator's defect finding.
Recall 24V-935 — TPMS telltale (OTA)
Multi-model campaign (~694,000 vehicles including Cybertrucks) for a tire-pressure warning that failed to persist between drive cycles.
Las Vegas explosion — not a vehicle defect
A rented Cybertruck packed with fireworks and fuel canisters explodes outside the Trump International Hotel after the occupant's suicide. Law enforcement treated it as a vehicle-borne IED, not a battery failure.
2024 tally: 38,965 — best-selling EV pickup
Cox Automotive/KBB estimates put Cybertruck ahead of the Ford F-150 Lightning (33,510) and #5 among all U.S. EVs. Tesla does not confirm model-level numbers.
Reservation program wound down
Tesla substitutes free wraps for remaining Foundation-era orders; reservations stop functioning as the truck's demand mechanism.
Delivery containment hold — trim panels
Delivery staff describe a 'containment hold' as cant-rail trim separates from customer trucks; the recall follows five days later.
Recall 25V-170 — cant rail (physical), nearly the whole fleet
46,096 trucks — essentially every Cybertruck built to February 2025. The Part 573 filing states the structural adhesive is susceptible to environmental embrittlement; the remedy adds a different adhesive plus a welded stud and nut. Widely reported as the eighth recall in roughly 15 months.
RWD launches at $69,990 — not $39,900
The long-promised single-motor trim finally arrives, 75% above its announced price and stripped of adaptive suspension, the powered tonneau, rear screen, and bed outlets.
Range Extender reportedly cancelled
Owner-community reporting indicates Tesla will not sell the battery pack that Foundation-series Cyberbeast buyers purchased expecting ~450-mile combined range. No Tesla press statement confirms it; deposits were reported refunded.
Tesla's own trade-in tool prices the depreciation
Reported quotes show roughly 35–38% first-year losses on ~$100,000 trucks. CarGurus data shows average used asking prices down ~50% year over year.
Deepest discounts yet; inventory visible from orbit
Discounts reach $10,550 on 2024-build inventory. Satellite photos document lot buildup at Giga Texas; circulating unsold-unit counts conflict (10,000 vs 3,700) and neither is well-sourced.
RWD discontinued; the segment shrinks around the truck
The cheapest trim is dropped after roughly five months as the federal EV credit nears expiry. The same day, Stellantis cancels the Ram 1500 REV outright.
Federal EV tax credit ends nationwide
The $7,500 credit is eliminated under the July 2025 budget law — one of several correlated pressures on late-2025 demand.
Recall 25V-699 — parking lamps (OTA) — and a production disclosure
63,619 trucks on pre-2025.38.3 software could exceed lamp-brightness limits. Because the population covered every truck built to date, the filing doubles as Tesla's confirmed cumulative production count through October 2025.
Recall 25V-735 — off-road light bar (physical)
6,197 service-installed accessory light bars may detach due to a primer mix-up; 619 warranty claims at filing.
2025 tally: 20,237 — a 48.1% collapse
Cox Automotive/KBB estimates show the steepest decline of any tracked EV nameplate in 2025. Q4 2025 came in at 4,140 versus 12,991 a year earlier (−68.1%). The F-150 Lightning retakes the segment crown.
$59,990 'flash sale' and a $15,000 Cyberbeast cut
Tesla launches its cheapest-ever Cybertruck as an explicitly temporary demand test and reverses the 2025 Cyberbeast price hike. Context cited in coverage: sales running near 5,000 a quarter — under 10% of the stated ambition.
FSD investigation escalates to Engineering Analysis (EA26002)
Now covering roughly 3.2 million vehicles including Cybertruck, with 80 logged incidents through December 2025. Open analysis — not a defect finding.
SpaceX bought 18% of Q4 2025 registrations
S&P Global Mobility data shows 1,279 Q4 trucks registered to SpaceX and 1,339 to Musk-controlled entities combined, with purchases continuing into 2026 — materially inflating any 'demand is stabilizing' reading.
Recall 26V-255 — wheel studs on 18-inch steel wheels (physical)
173 trucks: rotor stud-holes could crack under severe inputs. Tesla attributes the condition to an August 2025 change-management error; the wheel option had already been dropped for limited demand.
Q2 2026: combined S/X/Cybertruck line hits a new low
Tesla reports 8,822 produced and 12,364 delivered across Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck combined — the model-level split is not disclosed.
Q2 2026 earnings: 'the hardest product to scale'
Company auto gross margin falls to 16%, free cash flow turns negative for the first time in over two years, and call commentary calls Cybertruck the hardest product Tesla has ever made. The stock falls ~14% on the report.