Key takeaways
- Elon Musk said Tesla will end Cybertruck production in 2027 and use the factory space to build more Cybercab robotaxis.
- Musk forecast about 250,000 Cybertruck sales a year, but Tesla has sold only tens of thousands in total over roughly three years.
- The Cybertruck is the third vehicle Tesla has cut this year, after the Model S and Model X lines made way for Optimus robots.
In this story 4 sections
The Tesla Cybertruck is on its way out. Elon Musk said this week that Tesla will stop building its steel pickup next year and hand the factory space to the Cybercab, the two seat robotaxi the company has been promising. The decision closes a short and expensive chapter, and the numbers explain most of it.
Five figures behind the Cybertruck decision
- 250,000: the yearly sales Musk predicted when deliveries began in late 2023.
- Tens of thousands: what Tesla has actually sold in total over roughly three years, according to TechCrunch.
- $60,990: the launch price of the cheapest single motor version, which was not even scheduled to arrive until 2025.
- $79,990 and $99,990: the launch prices for the dual motor and Cyberbeast trims shown at the December 2023 delivery event.
- 3: the number of vehicles Tesla has cut this year, counting the Model S and Model X.
A forecast missed by a wide margin
Musk's original target implied a truck that could rival the best selling pickups in America. What Tesla delivered instead was a niche product. TechCrunch puts total sales at only tens of thousands across three years, which means a single strong year at the forecast pace would have outsold the entire run several times over.
Price was part of the gap. At the December 2023 delivery event, the trucks buyers could actually order cost $79,990 or $99,990. The $60,990 entry model, with an estimated 250 miles of range, was a promise for later. That pricing sat well above what many early reservation holders had expected, since the truck had been teased since its November 2019 unveiling with a far lower starting price in mind. Four years of waiting raised expectations, and the final sticker undercut them.
TechCrunch also points to the stainless steel design, which split opinion from the start, and to Musk's high profile political role in 2024 and 2025 as drags on demand.
Why the factory space matters more than the truck
Musk announced the end of production in a post on X, saying the floor space would go to more Cybercab production. That fits a pattern. The Model S and Model X lines were already shut down this year so Tesla could make room for its Optimus humanoid robots.
Three cuts in one year tell you where Tesla wants its capital to go. Low volume vehicles with expensive, specialized tooling are being traded for products Musk frames as the company's future: robots and driverless cars. Tesla has had a busy year on the autonomy front, including renaming Full Self Driving to Tesla Assisted Driving in Europe, and rival Waymo recently closed a $5 billion loan to expand its own robotaxi fleet.
The Cybercab bet also links back to Musk's other companies. Talks around a possible combination of his businesses have been in the news, including reports that a SpaceX and Tesla merger could put 30,221 bitcoin on one balance sheet.
What the numbers leave open
Musk's post did not give a final production date within 2027, and TechCrunch's report does not say how Tesla will handle service, parts or software support for existing Cybertruck owners once the line stops. Owners and anyone still weighing a purchase should watch for an official statement from Tesla on those points, since none has been published yet.
One more figure is worth tracking: how many Cybercabs Tesla actually builds in the space the pickup leaves behind. If that number also lands far below Musk's promise, investors will have seen this pattern before. For more coverage of the companies shaping the industry, visit our tech section.
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