The Tesla pickup truck (Cybertruck) reveal's most shocking moment was when pricing was displayed. Starting at just $39,900, the Cybertruck is very affordable.

When the Cybertruck took to the stage, the world was shocked by its appearance, but then came pricing. A base price of just $39,900 is a full $10,000 less than the base target price mentioned by Musk, so the world then took notice.

Gallery: Tesla Cybertruck Pickup Truck Debut

149 Photos

At the debut, Tesla announced incredibly low pricing for the Tesla Cybertruck. Tesla says the truck will start at $39,900 in base trim and top out at just $69,900 in top tri-motor form. That's even lower than the sub $50,000 target announced previously by Musk.

Price Guess Grade: Fail

Prior to the actual reveal of the Cybertruck, we took a shot in the dark at its appearance and wrote:

According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the upcoming Tesla truck had a target price of under $50,000. Musk stated:

“You should be able to buy a really great truck for $49k or less.”

We find it hard to believe that this price point is even possible. We added:

Perhaps Tesla can deliver a $50,000 electric truck, but we surely don't expect that base version to be immediately available. Furthermore, it'll surely be stripped-down, perhaps so much so that almost nobody outside of commercial fleets would consider buying one. We fully expect maxed-out versions of the Tesla truck to top $100,000 with ease

This means we failed to guess the base price and overestimated the top-of-the-line version, so we score ourselves with a failing grade on guessing the Cybertruck's price.

Below you can read our words on the predicted price in unaltered form. This prediction was published in its entirety prior to the debut of the Cybertruck and remains unchanged today.

Gallery: Tesla Cybertruck

10 Photos

Pricing Expectations Ahead Of Reveal

This Tesla truck topic is perhaps the most controversial.

The only previous mention of pricing was made by Elon Musk and it's so low it's somewhat unbelievable.

According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the upcoming Tesla truck had a target price of under $50,000. Musk stated:

“You should be able to buy a really great truck for $49k or less.”

We find it hard to believe that this price point is even possible, but that's was the target set forth by Musk. Here's more from Musk on the price topic:

“We don’t want it to be really expensive. I think its got to start at less than $50,000 – it’s got to be like $49,000 starting price max. Ideally less. It just can’t be unaffordable. It’s got to be something that’s affordable. There will be versions of the truck that will be more expensive, but you’ve got to be able to get a really great truck for $49,000 or less.”

Perhaps Tesla can deliver a $50,000 electric truck, but we surely don't expect that base version to be immediately available. Furthermore, it'll surely be stripped-down, perhaps so much so that almost nobody outside of commercial fleets would consider buying one.

We fully expect maxed-out versions of the Tesla truck to top $100,000 with ease. The question is, can Tesla deliver, say, a Ford F-150 or Ram 1500 fighter at a price that's fairly competitive?