Elon Musk Has Found a Convenient Excuse to Kill the Cybertruck

It’s been nearly seven years since Tesla CEO Elon Musk first unveiled the Cybertruck in 2019, and just three years since the electric pickup finally went on sale after numerous delays. But it looks like the Cybertruck’s days are already numbered. Musk announced Friday that Tesla plans to wind down Cybertruck production at its Gigafactory Texas “around the middle of next year.” He said, in a post on X, that the move is needed to make room for more Cybercab production. The Cybercab is a gold-colored, two-seat vehicle that Tesla describes as a “purpose-built fully autonomous vehicle.” The company first unveiled it in October 2024 and began offering rides in Austin this September. Since it’s designed to operate without a human driver, it has no steering wheel or pedals, creating a whole new set of regulatory headaches for Tesla. Tesla’s website now has a form for people interested in buying Cybercabs for commercial use, either individually or as a fleet. But there’s still no word on when, or if, the vehicle will be available for personal use. Musk has repeatedly said that individuals will eventually be able to buy a Cybercab and add it to Tesla’s robotaxi network, allowing the vehicle to make money for its owners when they aren’t using it. But while Musk is blaming the Cybercab for the end of the Cybertruck, Electrek suggests the real explanation may be simpler. According to Electrek, Cybertruck sales are running at roughly one-tenth of the 250,000 vehicles Musk originally hoped to sell annually. Tesla doesn’t report Cybertruck deliveries separately. Instead, it groups the Model 3 and Model Y together and puts all its other vehicles, including the Cybertruck, under “Other Models.” However, Tesla stopped producing the Model S and Model X earlier this year. In the third quarter, Tesla delivered just 8,295 vehicles in that category. Electrek estimates that roughly 7,000 to 8,000 were Cybertrucks, putting the pickup on pace to sell about 30,000 vehicles annually. But figures from Cox Automotive paint an even bleaker picture. The automotive research firm estimates that Tesla sold just 4,323 Cybertrucks in the U.S. during the third quarter, bringing its total for the first nine months of 2026 to 11,586. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. This story is developing and will be updated.