Elon Musk has said Tesla is ending Cybertruck production, closing out a stainless-steel pickup that was built for less than four years and never approached the demand its chief executive once advertised. The announcement was made in a post on X and reported by WIRED on November 6, which noted that Tesla had not responded to its request for comment and for clarification that the Cybertruck will no longer be made at all.
According to WIRED, Musk said he is killing the truck not because of its reliability record or its sales performance, but because he wants to focus instead on Cybercab, the autonomous electric vehicle at the center of Tesla’s robotaxi ambitions.
Cybertruck Production Was Tied to One Factory
Cybertruck production took place exclusively at Gigafactory Texas, which WIRED reports is apparently the only Tesla facility equipped with the machinery needed to build the truck’s unusual stainless steel body — a body that, the outlet notes, supposedly started to rust in some cases.
The reaction to the news on X was split. James Star, claiming to be a Tesla employee, posted that it was “the saddest news! Cybertruck (was) the best car Tesla sold,” while other replies to Musk were openly derisive, WIRED reports.
A Million Reservations, Fewer Than 50,000 Sales
Musk had claimed more than a million reservations for the pickup, and at the end of 2023 he said demand was “off the charts!” The truck did not convert that interest into sales. WIRED reports that fewer than 50,000 units had been sold in total by March 2025.
The decline continued this year. EVWire, citing Kelley Blue Book data, says Tesla sold 11,586 Cybertrucks in the first three quarters of 2026 in the United States, down 28 percent year-over-year. EVWire also reports that Musk’s announcement post came about 80 minutes after Tesla raised US Cybertruck prices and paused new orders for the entry-level Dual-Motor AWD version.
Our earlier coverage looked at how the truck’s sales slump fueled the biggest-flop label, and at data showing SpaceX bought 18% of Tesla Cybertrucks sold in the US during Q4 2025.
Problems Started Before Customers Got One
The vehicle’s troubles predated delivery. In 2023, WIRED covered a leaked Tesla report dated January 25, 2022, that showed the Cybertruck had basic design flaws, and that the preproduction “alpha” version was struggling with problems involving its suspension, body sealing, noise levels, handling and braking.
The launch itself produced one of the industry’s most replayed moments. In November 2019, Musk stepped onto a stage in California to introduce the cyberpunk-styled electric pickup and tried to demonstrate the strength of its “unbreakable” glass windows by hurling a steel ball at them. The demo truck’s windows smashed not once, but twice. Musk swore, then joked: “There’s room for improvement.”
Cybertruck Recalls Piled Up
The Cybertruck recalls arrived steadily once the truck was on the road. In April 2024, a recall was issued because the accelerator pedal pad could come loose and get trapped by interior trim, with the potential to push the vehicle to full speed.
In March 2025, Tesla had to recall nearly all the Cybertrucks it had produced to that point because a stainless steel trim panel could become detached from the vehicle while driving. Tesla blamed the wrong type of glue, which was replaced with a new adhesive “not prone to environmental embrittlement.”
In May 2026, the wrong type of grease meant Cybertruck wheels could potentially fall off. In what was then the EV’s 11th recall, it was declared that the Rear Wheel Drive Cybertruck Long Range model might have faulty brake rotors. In a notice posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Tesla stated that “brake rotor stud holes may crack and allow the stud to separate from the wheel hub.”
At the end of 2024, Karl Brauer, executive analyst at car ranking service iSeeCars, told WIRED that he had calculated the Cybertruck’s six recalls to date at that point made the EV “worse than 91 percent” of all other 2024 vehicles.
The White House Showroom That Didn’t Sell One
Musk also tried to sell a Cybertruck to President Donald Trump, setting up an impromptu Tesla showroom on the White House South Lawn. Trump passed on the pickup and opted instead for a 200-mph Model S Plaid in ultra red, remarking on the interior that “Everything’s computer!”
Despite the recalls and the sales figures, the truck held a small but committed following. WIRED profiled a number of owners last year who were fervently in love with their vehicles but who were periodically forced to endure insults and taunts that they were Nazis, a reference the outlet links to an on-stage gesture Musk made at the start of 2025.
Tesla Robotaxi Plans Take the Spotlight
With Cybertruck production ending, Musk has pointed to Cybercab as the priority. WIRED reports the autonomous vehicle has had a rocky start of its own and currently operates in Austin only, with a fleet supposedly numbered only in the hundreds. Musk apparently wants to ramp up output dramatically, having confirmed on an earnings call that the first cab came off the line in February.
Musk sees Cybercab as the vision of Tesla’s future, and has said the company should no longer be regarded as an automaker but as a robotics and autonomous vehicle company. The Tesla robotaxi program is central to that pitch.
Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill framed the end of the pickup as a handoff rather than a failure. “Cybertruck was an incredible technology development platform and lives on through Cybercab,” he said on X.
