The Cybertruck began as Elon Musk’s 2019 wager that the pickup had gone unchanged for a century and Tesla could reinvent it. The angular, stainless-steel truck arrived four years later, in late 2023—but without the promised sub-$40,000 starting price or 500-mile range.¹

The gap between ambition and market reality widened quickly. Musk had once envisioned annual volume as high as 250,000, yet Tesla sold only tens of thousands over its first three years, according to reporting on the shutdown. U.S. sales were estimated at 38,965 in 2024 and 20,237 in 2025, a 48% fall; quality problems also produced 11 voluntary recalls for the 2024 model, ranging from an accelerator-pedal risk to software and inverter faults.²

Now Tesla is redirecting its Texas factory. Musk said Cybertruck production would be wound down around the middle of next year “to make room for increased Cybercab production.”Elon Musk (elonmusk)³ It is the latest sign of a company pressing beyond conventional EVs: Tesla has already ended Model S and Model X production to free capacity for Optimus humanoid robots, while its two-seat Cybercab operation expands from Austin.

Musk insists the decision reflects too much demand rather than too little. He says the Cybertruck backlog is “far more than we can make” before the line is dismantled, that Tesla will add a shift, and that some deposit holders may nevertheless need refunds.Elon Musk (elonmusk)⁴ He has also rejected claims that the truck is unprofitable.

That account clashes with the product’s commercial trajectory. The design built a committed niche, but also became a lightning rod over its price, specifications and Musk’s political profile. Tesla has not said that Cybertruck production will move elsewhere. For now, the truck Musk once called his favorite next product is being recast as a technology platform whose legacy will live on in the Cybercab—not as the mass-market pickup Tesla promised.⁵