Tesla will wind down Cybertruck production at its Texas Gigafactory around mid-2027, CEO Elon Musk said on Friday, after years of weak sales for a futuristic model once touted as a rival to traditional bakkies that sold in only a handful of markets because of its heavy, angular design.
Musk said in a post on X that the wind-down would let the car maker increase output of its newly launched Cybercab, which he has made central to Tesla’s robo-taxi ambitions.
It was not immediately clear whether Cybertruck production would move to another facility or end entirely, but Tesla’s Austin plant is the only facility known to be equipped to make the model’s specialised components. Replying to a user on X, Musk called the Cybertruck the “best vehicle Tesla has ever made” and the wind-down the “end of an era”.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.
It will no doubt only be a rounding error on Tesla’s balance sheet, but the statistics speak for themselves.
Andy Palmer
The US electric vehicle maker began delivering the Cybertruck to customers only in late 2023. According to Kelley Blue Book, it sold just 20 237 Cybertrucks in the US last year, down 48% from 38 965 in 2024. Before the launch, Musk had predicted annual sales of 250 000.
“It doesn’t make sense to keep it going when it’s not meeting its targets,” said former Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer. “Every rational auto guy would say the same. It will no doubt only be a rounding error on Tesla’s balance sheet, but the statistics speak for themselves.”
‘Cybertruck won’t go, can’t go’
From its unveiling in 2019, the Cybertruck was a controversial choice for Musk. Bakkie purists mocked its angular design, and safety experts predicted it would struggle to win approval in key markets such as Europe.
The unveiling itself was marred when Musk tried to prove its windows were shatterproof by having metal balls thrown at them, only to leave large cracks in two of them. At the Cybertruck’s official launch in 2023, Musk touted it as a futuristic competitor to trucks from General Motors and Ford, saying: “Finally, the future will look like the future.”
But the vehicle struggled to meet those expectations. Automotive analyst Felipe Munoz said that although the Cybertruck has been called a failure because of its poor sales, electric pickups from Ford and others have also flopped in the US. “All of them lost the competition because electric pickups aren’t popular in the US,” Munoz said.
But the Cybertruck’s sharp-edged stainless-steel design limited its prospects in markets such as Europe, where EVs are more popular. Regulatory approval in Europe was impossible because of rules on pedestrian impact. “Anywhere where you have crash regulation that takes into account pedestrian impact, that Cybertruck won’t go, can’t go,” Palmer said.
Musk’s new bet
The Cybercab, which has butterfly doors and no steering wheel, pedals or mirrors, is one of Musk’s key bets in his push to turn Tesla into an AI and robotics company rather than just a car maker. Musk has said he sees it as Tesla’s main autonomous model, supplying a global network of robo-taxis.
After years of delays to Musk’s self-driving targets, Tesla began offering paid rides in a small fleet of Cybercabs in Austin in September. However, it still has to answer the US auto safety regulator’s questions about whether it properly self-certified the Cybercab as compliant with federal motor vehicle safety standards.
“Cybertruck was an incredible technology development platform and lives on through Cybercab,” Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill said on X. — Ananya Palyekar, Akanksha Khushi and Nick Carey, (c) 2026 Reuters
