Tesla will wind down production of the Cybertruck at its Texas factory around mid-2027, chief executive Elon Musk said on Friday. The factory capacity will be used to make more of the Cybercab, Tesla's new robotaxi. Musk called the Cybertruck the "best vehicle Tesla has ever made" and the wind-down the "end of an era".

It is not yet clear whether production will move elsewhere or end entirely, though the Austin plant is the only one known to be equipped to make its specialised parts.

The Cybertruck was unveiled in 2019 and first delivered to customers in late 2023, with its stainless-steel body and sharp, angular shape. Sales never came close to Musk's early forecast of 250,000 a year. According to Kelley Blue Book, Tesla sold 20,237 Cybertrucks in the US last year, down 48% from 38,965 in 2024.

Its design also kept it out of many markets. Rules in Europe and elsewhere that test how a vehicle would injure a pedestrian in a crash made approval effectively impossible.

"Anywhere where you have crash regulation that takes into account pedestrian impact, that Cybertruck won't go, can't go," said former Aston Martin chief executive Andy Palmer. Analyst Felipe Munoz pointed out that the problem is not unique to Tesla: electric bakkies from Ford and others have also struggled in the US, because Americans have been slow to buy electric pickups at all.

The Cybercab, which replaces it on the production line, has no steering wheel, pedals or mirrors, and began giving paid rides in a small fleet in Austin in September. It still has to answer questions from the US vehicle safety regulator about whether it was properly certified as meeting federal safety standards.

TechCentral carried Reuters' report on the decision and the sales figures behind it. Palmer said that while the Cybertruck would be a rounding error on Tesla's balance sheet, it did not make sense to keep a model going that was not meeting its targets. Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill took a different view on X: "Cybertruck was an incredible technology development platform and lives on through Cybercab."

Judged on sales alone, the Cybertruck missed by a mile. But Morrill's point is worth taking seriously. According to Tesla's own engineers, much of what the company learned building it carries over into the vehicle that is replacing it on the line.

That is a useful lesson for founders: a product that does not sell can still be worth building if it teaches you how to make the one that does, as long as you are honest about when to stop. Tesla has now chosen to put its factory space behind the robotaxi, the vehicle we looked at in our piece on the Cybercab.

The decision also shows how much design and regulation shape a vehicle's market. A bakkie that cannot pass pedestrian safety rules is shut out of much of the world, whatever its technology. Bakkies that are built for local roads and rules, like the Riddara electric bakkie now on sale here, have a far easier path.

You might also like our piece on Tesla's flying Roadster, the BYD Shark 6 hack, and Eskom's first public EV chargers.

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