EVs: Tesla Cybertruck 'would be lucky' to keep price at $75,000, MotorTrend CEO says

MotorTrend Group CEO and President Alex Wellen joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss why people are interested in EVs, the most popular EVs, the Tesla Cybertruck, and EV price points.

Video transcript

BRAD SMITH: The EV race is filling up as new players from every direction join in on the action. However, with more options comes fierce competition to win the hearts of consumers. Here with the latest pulse on the auto landscape, we've got Alex Wellen, who is the MotorTrend Group CEO and president along with Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian. Alex, great to have you here on set with us.

ALEX WELLEN: Thanks for having me.

BRAD SMITH: Absolutely. OK. So we've been having so much spirited discussion about EVs at a whole. And still, the part of the broader automotive purchasing that they account for right now, what are some of the trends that you're seeing among consumers and how they are gravitating towards some of these vehicles? And perhaps when we could see more dominance of EVs on the road.

ALEX WELLEN: Yeah. I mean, the percentage has changed so significantly in just the last year and a half too and the availability and all the different types of cars. I think we do independent research as well too, and 78% of the people who are in the marketplace right now are very interested, right? Very interested in getting into an EV.

And then within the next five years, we predict that about 50% will definitely or very likely be inside an EV. All of us, all the people who are watching right now are saying to themselves, all right, I know I'm going to get an EV. Is it the right time? I don't know about the range anxiety. I don't know about how I'm going to charge it. Is it affordable? But everyone knows that they're going to be inside of an EV soon.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: I've been looking at some of the data you guys publish. And the usual suspects are up there in terms of the top search models, right? Tesla Model 3, the Ford Mustang Mach-E, at cetera. But recently, you guys said the Rivian is the most popular EV searched overall. In MotorTrend, you guys do a lot of-- have that car shopping tool. What do you think is going on there?

ALEX WELLEN: Well, Rivian was our truck of the year last year. Lightning, Ford F-150, another truck, another EV is our winner this year. So the trucks are extraordinary. And the Rivian, which I've driven and the Lightning, which I know you've driven as well too, and then we'll talk about the Cybertruck, which I've been in as well, which is an experience. But the Rivian is extraordinary. I mean, it's four motors, right?

Many of these trucks are one or two motors to be able to do what they need to do that workload and how much battery you need. But four motors, you feel it immediately. I think they've done a great job with the regenerative brake. So that's that feeling of being able to really one pedal a car. I'm so used to three pedals in a manual. I don't know if any of you have driven manual. But now you're down to one pedal.

JULIE HYMAN: This guy has.

ALEX WELLEN: Yeah. So you can go from end to end and never touch the brake. And the Rivian is really extraordinary. I think the design kind of-- I don't know how about you, but every time I see the design, I think it's pretty incredible.

JULIE HYMAN: So let's talk about the design of the other one that you mentioned.

ALEX WELLEN: The other one.

JULIE HYMAN: And viewers will know I am skeptical about the Cybertruck. And when you look at the audience that wants a Rivian or a Ford F-150 or a non-electric pickup truck for that matter, is that the audience for this thing? It doesn't feel to me like it would be.

ALEX WELLEN: Well, people have counted Tesla out many, many times before. And they keep coming back with these interesting and affordable types of vehicles. I mean--

JULIE HYMAN: Is that an attractive car? Tell me, Alex.

ALEX WELLEN: Yeah. I think in a dystopian world where the road Warrior is behind you, I think you'll need that truck.

JULIE HYMAN: Which is not where we live in.

BRAD SMITH: I really think it's a mitten on wheels.

ALEX WELLEN: I like it. I'm sure I'll get a lot of hate mail for that. But I love it. I agree with you. I think from a design point of view, it's very polarizing. And I think a lot of people just won't simply want it. They want to do the work. The Ford 150, whether it's a Lightning, an electric or not is the number one selling automobile, period, for a decade, right?

So I don't think they're going to lose that market share. But I think the Cybertruck, you know, Musk has done a nice job of surprising us. He said it would have three motors. And Rivian comes along with four motors. I'm sure they'll have four motors. And that truck is a lightning rod. But I think they will do well with it. They're doing extremely well with the semi trucks. So I would never count Musk out in that way. But I agree, maybe it doesn't suit you. Are you more of a Ford F-150 or--

JULIE HYMAN: No, I'm none of the above. But I'm just--

ALEX WELLEN: Are you an electric person?

JULIE HYMAN: I'm a hybrid person right now. What about the fact that it's not all-wheel drive? Is that a problem?

ALEX WELLEN: I think that when you have three motors, then you're going to be equipped to be able to get wherever you need to do. And you saw what it did with the Ford 150. I'm sure Ford would disagree with that test that was done in 2019. And I was there when they showed us it. I went inside the Cybertruck. And it was extraordinary even back then. But I do think they have a ways to go. And I think the pricing is something that they're not going to necessarily be able to honor.

BRAD SMITH: What price do you think it needs to come in at?

ALEX WELLEN: Well, I'm the wrong person to ask because I have my staff that was much smarter than me on these type of things. I mean, I think--

BRAD SMITH: What do they say?

ALEX WELLEN: Well, when we talk about it, we say yes, there's this beautiful $40,000 truck idea that nobody can actually achieve because your Ford F-150s, your Rams, all these trucks are really going to have to be $50,000 to $60,000 to get into it. You could spend up to $100,000. They said, Musk said in 2019, 3 and 1/2 years ago that it would be $39,000.

I think eventually, like they did with the Model 3, they'll have a $39,000 truck. But initially, if they want to do three or four motors, I would say they would be lucky at $75,000. I think you'll probably be in that range. And the way they'll say it is, hey, I know we talked about that $39,000 truck. It's coming. But if you want the fully-loaded four motors, it's going to cost you $80,000. That's my guess.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: So Alex, is kind of taking a step back with MotorTrend. It's a TV station now. It's not only the magazine, but also the website and the car buying tool. You're in town for upfronts right now. What sort of the media landscape kind of like, the general feeling right now? And is it about being niche? Is it about having like a really kind of focused product?

ALEX WELLEN: So MotorTrend people of the year, and they know our magazine that goes back 75 years. We're celebrating 75 years. But we're the largest media organization in the world for automotive. So we have a TV network, a cable network that's fully distributed. We have direct-to-consumer that has about 7,000 episodes. We have a studio that does hundreds of hours of original content. And we have Fast, which is the free ad supporting services.

But then on the other side, in addition to live events that we do and social, we have all these tools, these research tools and these buyers guide tools and this research that we're doing to help put people inside of cars. As far as the landscape is concerned, I think it's always a question of business about why do you go and how deep do you go?

I think for someone like us, I think there will be this moment coming where going deep is really important for fans, right? So all you can eat is really critical if you have great brands like Warner Brothers Discovery, like these extraordinary brands like DC and Harry Potter. But for someone like us like MotorTrend, and we own Hot Rod and Super Street and all these other brands, we want to go deeper.

Like if I were to ask the three of you, what are the two or three cars that define you, like that your parents had that, you had first of all, that you saw in a film? Like I would know so much about you. You would have an instant connection. I feel like that's what we need to do with our fans. Understand the cars that matter most to them. And so yeah, I think the more we can do to help get them in the car and be generous, the more we can do to celebrate car culture. Even if it's electric, I think is awesome.

JULIE HYMAN: Just really quickly, you guys still have a print magazine.

ALEX WELLEN: We do.

JULIE HYMAN: How?

ALEX WELLEN: Because well, first off, it should be profitable, which is a good business transaction, which it is for us. And we used to have dozens of magazines. We have "MotorTrend" and "Hot Rod" right now too. So I think those magazines are critical for the brand from a marketing point of view too. They should be profitable as well. And the quality should be there too because so much of our audience really wants that kind of visceral connection to it.

So we are looking at different ways that we want to publish in a magazine and how it looks. But I think people-- cars are very visceral, and so magazines are very visceral too. So in that regard, we think it's important to have in the portfolio because we can put them on the cover and we can have them on TV and we can do a lot of different things.

JULIE HYMAN: Tactile. Alex, thank you so much. This was really fun.

ALEX WELLEN: Thanks for having me.

JULIE HYMAN: Alex Wellen, MotorTrend Group CEO and President. And our Pras Subramanian, of course, as well.