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Deliveries Of Tesla’s Futuristic Cybertruck Have Begun
Elon Musk personally handed over the first vehicle at a delivery event in Austin, Texas. Tesla also revealed the price and specifications of its latest load-hauling EV.
Two years after Tesla was due to deliver its first EV pickups, the Cybertruck is finally here. The base model of the load-lugging EV will cost $61,000 — around $21,000 more than CEO Elon Musk promised when the vehicle was announced four years ago.
Deliveries to reservation holders began during a stage event in Austin, Texas, with Musk himself in attendance. Tesla’s website says that two more versions of the Cybertruck will follow next year, including an all-wheel drive model (around $80,000) and a premium model known as the “Cyberbeast” (around $100,000).
Feat of Strength 3: Cyberbeast (0-60 in 2.6s) pic.twitter.com/q0cK9zb21D
— Tesla (@Tesla) November 30, 2023
Base model Cybertrucks can travel 250 miles on a single charge, while the premium Cyberbeast can reach 320 miles. The base model, which won’t be delivered in large volumes until 2025, has a single motor that drives the rear wheels and a 0-to-60 time of 6.5 seconds. The all-wheel drive middle model, available next year, reduces that figure to 4.1 seconds. Finally, the premium version, due in 2024, will be able to reach a top speed of 130 mph and go from 0 to 60 in 2.6 seconds. Towing capacities are rated at a massive 5,000 kg.
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The Cybertruck is a huge deal for Tesla. It’s the first new vehicle the EV maker has produced in three years. Tesla ran into two years of delays during production, primarily due to the vehicle’s unorthodox design and heavy use of stainless steel.
During the Austin, Texas event, Musk exclaimed: “We have a car here that experts said was impossible. Finally, the future will look like the future”.
News
Samsung And Spotify Offer Free Premium Deal In MENA
Nearly seven in ten streams in the region come from 18-to-34-year-olds — the audience Samsung is hoping to entice into its ecosystem.
Samsung has announced a partnership with Spotify spanning the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye, bundling Spotify Premium with select devices across its ecosystem. The headline offer — up to four months of Premium for free — is a first for the region.
Customers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Türkiye who buy any OLED or 98-inch television, or any Galaxy S or Z series mobile device, get four months of Spotify Premium. The offer, tiered by market and device, is available at retail and on Samsung.com, and redeemed through the Samsung Promotion and Samsung Members apps.
For Samsung, the strategy is less about free music than about lock-in. The Korean tech giant’s pitch is continuity: a track starts on a Galaxy smartphone through Galaxy Buds on the commute, moves to a Samsung TV and soundbar in the living room, and stays controllable from a Galaxy Watch. The more seamlessly music travels between those devices, the harder it becomes to swap any one of them for a rival’s.
“Technology should bring people closer to the things they love, and few things connect people the way music does,” said Omar Saheb, Regional VP of Marketing and Online Business at Samsung Electronics MENA. The partnership, he added, gives customers “a genuine reason to choose Samsung for the experience, not only the product”.
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For subscribers, Premium brings the usual package: ad-free listening, offline downloads, richer audio quality on Galaxy Buds and Samsung sound devices, and Jam, which lets friends build a shared queue.
“At Spotify, we are always working to make every listening moment feel more personal, meaningful, and worth it,” said Rami Jamal, Head of Partnerships at Spotify for South Asia, Middle East, and Africa.
The demographics go a long way to explaining the strategy. Across MENA, Türkiye, and Pakistan, nearly seven in ten Spotify streams come from listeners aged 18 to 34, according to the company — precisely the audience Samsung wants inside its hardware ecosystem before buying habits harden.
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