Tesla will stop making the Cybertruck next year, according to CEO Elon Musk, who said on X that the company would use factory space to build more two-seat Cybercab robotaxis.
The decision to discontinue this futuristic, steel-clad electric vehicle comes after just a few years of disappointing sales. When Musk delivered the first Cybertrucks in late 2023, he predicted that Tesla would sell around 250,000 per year. It was supposed to be such a cornerstone of Tesla’s future that before construction began, the company referred to its Texas factory as the “Cybertruck Factory.” But Tesla has only sold tens of thousands of them – in total – over the past three years.
Tesla is killing the Cybertruck at a time when it is trying to become a company focused on AI and robotics. This is largely due to its robotaxi ambitions.
The company has spent the last two months deploying Cybercabs on the streets of its hometown of Austin, Texas. Without major incidents to date, the company announced plans to expand Cybercabs operations to other cities, starting with Dallas later this month. (Tesla also operates robotaxi versions of its Model Y SUVs in Austin, Houston and Dallas, as well as three cities in Florida.)
This is the third product that Tesla has abandoned in order to fuel these larger ambitions. Earlier this year, the company decided to end production of the Model S sedan and Model X SUV and instead use factory space dedicated to those vehicles to make Optimus humanoid robots.
First announced in 2019, the Cybertruck was a product that Musk had long been obsessed with.
“My favorite for the next product is probably the pickup truck, and we’re just going to make an amazing pickup truck,” he said during one of Tesla’s earnings calls that year.
Musk promised the Cybertruck would be radical, inspired by designs from cyberpunk sci-fi stories like Blade Runner. While this was certainly borne out in the design, the company over-promised the Cybertruck’s basics from the get-go. During the now-famous 2019 reveal, when chief designer Franz von Holzhausen smashed the Cybertruck’s windows with steel balls, Tesla said the electric vehicle was supposed to start at less than $40,000 and have a range of up to 500 miles. He didn’t hit any of those numbers.
Instead, the truck was delayed for two years, in part due to the Covid-19 pandemic. When it finally hit the market in late 2023, Tesla handed the first Cybertrucks to customers in a short event, somewhat strange for Tesla (at least by the company’s own standards), during which a dimly lit Musk stood in a truck bed promising that the truck was “the best doomsday equipment” suited to “late civilization vibes.” The base price had ballooned to around $60,000 and the top-of-the-line range had dropped by more than 100 grand.
Since then, the truck has experienced difficulties in the market. The polarizing design never seemed to appeal to buyers, especially at a higher-than-expected price. Then, in its first full year of sales in 2024, Musk became a major backer of Donald Trump, making the instantly recognizable Cybertruck a target for protesters. This continued until 2025, as Musk led the so-called Department of Government Effectiveness, which laid off thousands of federal workers.
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