tech
Tesla ending Cybertruck production to focus on Cybercab
Elon Musk said Tesla will wind down Cybertruck production by mid-2027 to make room for the Cybercab robotaxi. Tesla sold only 20,237 Cybertrucks last year, down 48% from 2024.
Tesla is ending production of its Cybertruck to make room for the Cybercab, an autonomous ride-share vehicle, CEO Elon Musk said on Friday, according to the New York Times.
Production of the electric trucks at Tesla’s factory in Austin, Texas, will end around the middle of 2027. Musk wrote in a post on X that the wind-down would let Tesla increase Cybercab production.
Tesla sold 20,237 Cybertrucks in the United States last year, down 48% from 38,965 in 2024, according to Kelley Blue Book. Musk had predicted annual sales of 250,000 units before production began, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
The Cybertruck has been recalled 11 times since going on sale in late 2023, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In March 2025, Tesla recalled nearly all Cybertrucks, about 46,000, after an exterior trim panel was found to be falling off.
The parents of two young adults who died in a crash sued Tesla last year, claiming the door design made it impossible for their children to escape the burning vehicle.
Musk called the Cybertruck the “best vehicle Tesla has ever made” and the wind-down the “end of an era.” Former Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer said: “It doesn’t make sense to keep it going when it’s not meeting its targets.”
Tesla’s stock rose about 5% after the announcement.
What the coverage missed
The coverage focused on the Cybertruck ending. The part that got less attention is what it was replaced by.
The Cybercab is a two-seat vehicle with no steering wheel, no pedals and no mirrors. It has butterfly doors. Production began earlier this year. Tesla has listed an installed capacity of more than 125,000 units.
About 570 of the more than 1,200 Tesla robotaxis operating in Texas are Cybercabs. The rest are mainly Model Y vehicles. The Cybercab is intended to compete with Waymo, which already has 4,000 autonomous vehicles offering paid rides in 14 U.S. cities.
The Cybercab has not answered the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s questions about self-certification. The agency opened an audit in September to review the basis for the certification.
The Cybertruck is ending because it did not sell. The Cybercab is replacing it before it has proven it can. The swap is from a product that failed to a product that has not succeeded.
What I think
Musk predicted 250,000 Cybertruck sales a year. Tesla sold 20,237. The prediction was off by a factor of 12. The product is ending.
The Cybertruck was recalled 11 times. It could not be sold in Europe because its design violated pedestrian safety rules. A lawsuit claims the doors trapped passengers in a fatal crash. The product was a failure by every measure that matters.
Tesla’s stock rose 5% on the news. The market is rewarding the end of a failure. The Cybertruck was a drag on the company. Ending it is a decision the market approves of.
The Cybercab is the replacement. It has no steering wheel. It has no pedals. It is being audited by the safety agency. It has 570 vehicles on the road. Waymo has 4,000. The replacement is not ready.
Musk called the Cybertruck the best vehicle Tesla has ever made. He is ending production of the best vehicle the company has ever made. The statement and the decision do not go together. The market does not care about the statement. It cares about the decision. The stock went up.