Cybertruck Price Hike, Ram’s Twin-Truck Charity Auction, and Lamborghini’s EV Truth: The Top 3

Here are three automotive news stories you might’ve missed!

No. 3: Lamborghini says China’s electric supercars are not a threat

In an interview with AutoExpress, Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann told them that Chinese supercars are not a threat to them in the slightest, and his reasoning was blunt: “Because they are doing electric cars.” He then went on to say that they cannot compete “on the performance of our cars, the sound and the emotion,” while allowing a “never say never” for the future. This is the same executive who canceled Lamborghini’s first EV outright earlier this year, calling investment in a segment with negligible demand financially irresponsible, and pushed the brand’s electric model past 2030.

The MoneyShift take: The Lambo boss is 100 percent right. Electric cars make for the best daily drivers and are excellent replacements for big people movers, but at the upper end of the market, emotion starts playing a bigger role than outright speed. The proof is out there now: the Yangwang U9 grabbed a global top-speed crown and nobody rushed to buy one. The Nio EP9 took the world by storm by crushing the ring/Goodwood/and more, and yet…I have never seen one. China knows this too, which is exactly why some of its companies are now developing combustion hypercars. Until those arrive, Winkelmann has nothing to be concerned about, and he clearly knows it.

No. 2: Ram is auctioning two supercharged trucks as one lot, and every dollar goes to charity

Ram, UFC, RealTruck, and Barrett-Jackson are sending two custom trucks across the Las Vegas auction block as a single lot on September 11, with Barrett-Jackson waiving all fees so 100 percent of the hammer price benefits the Folds of Honor Foundation, which funds scholarships for families of fallen and disabled service members and first responders.

The pair is properly wild, and 100% Dodge. Truck one is the first retail-production 2027 Ram 1500 Rumble Bee SRT, a 777 hp supercharged Hellcat pickup, upgraded further with a Direct Connection (Read: Factory available modification) supercharger pushing it past 900 horsepower, covered in a special hand-painted two-tone Molten Red Pearl. Truck two is a 2005 Ram 1500 SRT-10, the Viper-engined pickup that was one of the wildest things a brand could ever produce, it was rebuilt by RealTruck with Ram’s own design VP involved and matching Molten Red graphics.

The MoneyShift take: Pretty cool move from Ram to make a charity auction that much more special. Two weeks ago the Ferrari Luce Tailor Made became the most expensive charity lot in history at $40 million. This is the closest you will ever get to a pickup-truck version of that idea, a one-of-one factory flex built for a cause, except it comes with two of them and a combined 1,400 horsepower. How ‘Merican.

No. 1: Tesla raised Cybertruck prices, on the truck it struggles to sell

This morning, with no announcement, as is the Tesla way, Tesla’s configurator quietly added $5,000 to two Cybertruck variants. The Dual Motor AWD now starts at $74,990 and the Premium AWD at $84,990, increases of roughly 7% and 6% respectively. The Cyberbeast holds true at $99,990. Wall Street noticed even if Tesla said nothing: the stock fell about 4% on the day, its worst session in a month.

Now index that against the sales, and your head starts to hurt:

Cybertruck sales (Cox Automotive)	Units
2024 (first full year)	38,965
2025	20,237 (down 48%)
First half of 2026	7,263 (Q1 down 45% year over year)
Original Musk target	250,000 per year

Giga Texas can build more than 125,000 Cybertrucks a year, meaning the line is running at roughly 1/10th of capacity. The cheap $69,990 rear-drive model was quietly deleted last September. Early owners are staring at depreciation near 45%. Bloomberg spent July arguing the Cybertruck has replaced the Ford Edsel as the industry’s benchmark flop on a target-versus-actual basis. And the response to all of that, apparently, is a price increase. In my view a large part of this is due to the man at the helm, but also the fact that the prices are nearly $30,000 higher than originally promised and the Tesla brand equity can only carry you so far.

The MoneyShift take: I genuinely do not get it. Raising prices is what you do when demand outruns supply, and every number above says the opposite is happening. Now MAYBE component costs are up and Tesla is protecting margin on a product it has quietly stopped trying to scale. On the other hand, you could argue those that want to buy these will pay anything, so why not make more money? Either way, the chart only goes one direction, and the price just went the other.

I’m MoneyShift. If it has wheels and a story, it ends up here. Follow along for all things car news.