In brief: If you're a Tesla fan looking forward to the Cybertruck, you'd better be prepared to wait a while longer. New reports claim that the automaker won't begin mass production of the vehicle until the end of 2023, two years after the pickup truck's original target.

At the start of the year, Tesla confirmed reports that production of the Cybertruck had been delayed until 2023, the result of industry challenges such as the global chip shortage that has hit auto manufacturers particularly hard.

Last month, Tesla said it was readying its Austin, Texas plant for early production of the Cybertruck in mid-2023. "We're in the final lap for Cybertruck," Musk said on a conference call with analysts.

According to Reuters, citing two people with knowledge of the plans, mass production won't start until the end of 2023. Tesla will be hoping the initial output in the middle of next year will be enough to pacify impatient buyers who placed a $100 deposit on a Cybertruck up to two years ago, though it remains unclear exactly when they might receive their vehicles.

Reuters notes that the gradual ramp-up in production in the second half of 2023 means that Tesla would not be recording a full quarter of revenue until early 2024 for the Cybertruck, which is considered a key growth area for the company.

In April, a version of the Cybertruck was on stage during the Texas Gigafactory launch party event, showing a slight change to the original design: the truck no longer featured door handles; they had been replaced by sensors that detect when an owner is nearby and open the doors automatically.

We still don't know exactly what the final production version of the Cybertruck will look like or how much one will cost. Tesla said in 2019 that it was aiming for around $40,000, but vehicles have seen their prices shoot up since then, and Tesla has raised the prices of its entire range on several occasions, so expect the Cybertruck to cost a lot more than $40K.