Tesla to Wind Down Cybertruck Production After Years of Weak Sales
Tesla is pulling the plug on the Cybertruck. CEO Elon Musk announced that the company will wind down production of its angular, stainless steel pickup next year after years of sales that fell far short of expectations.
"Tesla will be winding down production of the Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas around the middle of next year to make room for increased Cybercab production," Musk wrote in a post on X early Friday, Nov. 6, according to Electrek.
Sales Never Matched the Hype
Tesla built capacity at its Texas factory for 250,000 Cybertrucks a year, but it has been selling only about one-tenth of that, Yahoo Finance reported. Cox Automotive's Kelley Blue Book estimates that about 71,000 Cybertrucks have been sold since the truck launched in 2023.
That is a far cry from the excitement when the truck was unveiled in 2019. Tesla received nearly 150,000 orders shortly after the reveal and later said it had more than 1 million preorders. Musk once boasted that demand was "so far off the hook, you can't even see the hook."
Tesla does not report Cybertruck sales separately. They are grouped under "Other Models," along with the Model S, Model X and Semi. In the third quarter of 2026, deliveries in that category fell 48% from a year earlier to 8,295, the lowest since 2021. Electrek estimates 7,000 to 8,000 of those were Cybertrucks.
Some of the truck's buyers have been close to home. S&P Global Mobility data showed Musk's own companies, including SpaceX, bought about 19% of Cybertrucks registered in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Broken Promises and Price Changes
Musk originally promised a starting price under $40,000 and up to 500 miles of range on the top model. Neither materialized, according to Yahoo Finance. Tesla had also targeted first deliveries by late 2021, but design challenges, stainless steel panel production and the pandemic pushed that back.
Tesla tried several pricing moves to boost demand. It launched a cheaper rear-wheel-drive version in 2025, then pulled it months later. A lower-priced dual-motor trim reached customers this summer, but prices rose $5,000 in August, and the dual-motor model now starts at $74,990.
About two weeks before Musk's announcement, Tesla also stopped selling the Cybertruck in Australia and New Zealand. The truck cannot be sold in Europe or most right-hand-drive markets, Electrek reported.
Tesla Bets on Robotaxis and Robots
Musk said the Cybertruck's factory space will be used to build more Cybercabs, Tesla's self-driving vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals. The Cybercab has been testing in some robotaxi markets, and Tesla says it will eventually be sold to consumers. The vehicle has also drawn a federal safety investigation.
The Cybertruck is not the only Tesla vehicle on the chopping block. Earlier this year, Tesla ended production of the Model S and Model X, with Musk saying the space at its Fremont, California, factory is needed for lines to build Optimus humanoid robots.
Not everyone is convinced by Musk's explanation. Electrek argued that much of the Cybertruck space at the massive Texas factory is already idle and called the Cybercab reason a forward-looking way to explain a sales failure.
Investors Shrug It Off
Wall Street did not seem worried. Tesla shares rose nearly 5% to about $360 shortly after the market opened Friday, Yahoo Finance reported.
"For many in the industry, this isn't a surprise," Yahoo Finance senior reporter Pras Subramanian wrote.
Tesla has not said what the wind-down means for parts and service for the tens of thousands of Cybertrucks already on the road. Meanwhile, the company continues to tease new vehicles, including a new Roadster unveiled in October.
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