Tesla Cybertruck likely axed, production to 'wind down' in 2027

The Tesla Cybertruck was once billed as the company's next all-conquering vehicle, instead it looks to be fading out into obscurity after less than four years in production.

In a post on X on Friday, Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, said, "Tesla will be winding down production of the Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas around the middle of next year to make room for increased Cybercab production".

Given the car's low sales, the post implies the Cybertruck is being axed, but there's wiggle room in the wording to suggest it could be moved to another production facility. The Austin, Texas plant is the only one that has ever produced the finger-slicing electric ute.

No publications have, at the time of writing, been able to get a response from Mr Musk to confirm the Cybertruck's axiing, and he hasn't made any subsequent tweets about the matter.

The Cybertruck has been dogged with controversy since it was unveiled as a concept in 2019. At that event, Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla's design chief, hurled a metal ball at the vehicle, shattering the supposedly shatter-proof glass.

Clad in a stainless steel body, Mr Musk claimed the Cybertruck would go on sale in the States in 2021 with a starting price of US$39,990 (A$58,100). For reference, a base Ford F-150 at the time cost US$28,495 (A$41,400), while the Ford Explorer was priced from US$36,675 (A$53,300).

By the time the production car was launched in late 2023, the price of the base rear-wheel drive model had ballooned out to US$60,990 (A$88,600) and that variant would only begin arriving in showrooms in 2025.

Until then, the range consisted of a dual-motor all-wheel drive model starting at US$79,990 (A$116,300) and the tri-motor 'Cyberbeast' beginning at US$99,990 (A$145,400).

While the price skyrocketed in the transition from concept to production, range was greatly reduced. At the concept's launch, the Cybertruck was said to have a range of up to 800km, while the production car had between 400 and 550km of range, depending on the model.

To address the issue, Tesla offered a 50kWh "range extender" battery pack that would live in the cargo tray, and add around 200km of range. This option was officially discontinued in 2025 before a single one had been delivered.

On top of questions about the safety of its sharply-pointed stainless steel body, the car seemed to suffer from reliability, tuning and durability issues, with viral videos emerging not long after launch of Cybertrucks breaking down or getting stuck on lightly-challenging off-road tracks.

At its launch, Mr Musk predicted Tesla would sell around 250,000 Cybertrucks per year. According to Kelly Blue Book, 38,965 were sold in 2024, with sales dropping to 20,237 in 2025.

The Cybertruck has only been produced in left-hand drive, with sales limited to North America and some Gulf countries. Last month, the company cancelled and refunded Australian orders, and confirmed "plans to produce Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand have been discontinued".

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