Tesla to end Cybertruck production as focus shifts to Cybercab

Elon Musk says output of the futuristic pickup at the Texas Gigafactory will stop in mid-2027

Tesla is walking away from the Cybertruck, once one of its boldest projects. Chief executive Elon Musk said on Friday that production of the model at the company’s Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, will stop by the middle of next year. The reason is that the pickup never won the mass-market appeal that was expected.

Writing on X, Musk said the move would let Tesla put that production capacity toward the Cybercab, its new driverless taxi. He said the Cybercab will be the core vehicle of a large Tesla robotaxi network. In recent years Musk has presented Tesla less as an electric carmaker and more as a robotics and autonomous-driving company.

It is not yet clear whether Cybertruck production will move to another plant or end altogether. However, the Austin factory is the only known Tesla plant equipped to make the pickup’s specialized components, which raises further questions about the model’s future.

Cybertruck chief engineer Wes Morrill called the project a valuable platform for developing technology. He noted on X that the solutions tested on the Cybertruck now live on in the Cybercab.

Falling short of expectations

When Musk launched the Cybertruck in 2023, he pitched it as a futuristic alternative to pickups from traditional giants General Motors and Ford. The model failed to live up to those claims.

Its sharp-angled stainless-steel design won both devoted fans and harsh critics. The unusual look also became an obstacle outside the United States. Winning regulatory approval proved difficult in several European countries, which shut Tesla out of markets that could have boosted sales significantly.

The problems did not end there. The pickup was recalled several times, quality-control complaints kept coming, and the company had to change prices more than once.

Sales decline

Tesla does not report Cybertruck sales separately and includes the model in its “Other Models” category. Deliveries in that category came to 8,295 units in the third quarter, down from 12,364 in the second quarter, a drop of roughly one third.

Analysts say ending the Cybertruck shows clearly how Tesla’s strategy has changed. The company is now betting on driverless transport and robotaxi services rather than competing in the traditional car segment.