Tesla tardiness is echoed in Mattel’s cybertruck toy delay

Tesla Inc. watchers know all about blown deadlines for product releases by the electric-vehicle manufacturer, but even fans of the brand who are too young to drive won’t be getting a promised Cybertruck stocking stuffer this year.

Don’t blame Elon Musk.

Mattel Inc. is telling customers who pre-ordered scaled-down toy versions of Tesla’s first truck that “unexpected challenges” forced it to miss a mid-December shipping target. The toymaker, which offered two limited editions back in February, said in an email the radio-controlled pickups won’t ship for another five months.

“Due to an unforeseen production issue, we are experiencing delays in the shipment of our Hot Wheels R/C Cybertrucks,” a Mattel spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. “We are diligently working to ensure these products arrive by May 1, 2021.”

The toymaker’s spokesperson said it was an isolated problem and described the miniature models as a “specialty collector’s item” to distinguish them from its mass-market products.

The real Cybertruck isn’t expected to go on sale until late next year after a new factory under construction in Austin, Texas, is finished.

Mattel began taking orders for the toys—a 3-inch model for $20 and a larger 1:10 scale version for $400—in February, and they’re now sold out.

Tesla Chief Executive Officer Musk unveiled the Cybertruck three months earlier, at a November 2019 event when the prototype vehicle’s window was smashed. In homage to that mishap, which went viral, the larger toy includes a “reusable cracked-window vinyl sticker.”