Elon Musk announced on Friday that Tesla intends to begin reducing production of Cybertrucks in Texas in mid-2027. The pickup’s image was already in a bad place before anyone had even gotten behind the wheel of one.
Tesla will use the space at its Austin factory to build more Cybercab robotaxis, Musk announced in an X post. The future of Cybertruck production elsewhere is unclear. Austin is the only known Tesla plant equipped to make the pickup’s specialist parts, Reuters reported.
US sales nearly halved in the pickup’s second full year on the market. Tesla sold an estimated 20,237 Cybertrucks in 2025, down from 38,965 in 2024, according to Kelley Blue Book.
Tesla handed over the first Cybertrucks in November 2023, two years behind its original schedule. By then, the pickup had spent four years living down a demonstration that was supposed to show how much punishment it could take.
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
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2026
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The steel ball won twice
During the 2019 Los Angeles unveiling, Tesla’s chief designer Franz von Holzhausen slammed the door of the Cybertruck, and up it remained. To demonstrate Tesla’s «armour glass,» he proceeded to toss a metal ball towards the driver’s window. The window shattered. He then proceeded to crack the rear side window as well.
Musk finished the presentation with both damaged windows in full view.
A Ford saves Christmas
In December 2023, a Cybertruck carrying a Christmas tree slid off a snowy trail near Bear Valley, California. Footage that made rounds online showed a Ford Super Duty hauling it back up the slope while the Tesla’s wheels spun.
The Cybertruck driver said he was driving a prototype that had trouble with its four-wheel drive. The US Forest Service saw an opening of its own and offered to teach Tesla drivers how to read its trail maps.
Steel meets a Corolla
On 28 December 2023, a 17-year-old driving a 2009 Toyota Corolla near Palo Alto struck an embankment, came back onto the road and crossed the double yellow line into an oncoming Cybertruck, according to the California Highway Patrol’s preliminary account.
The collision crumpled the Corolla’s front end and set off the Cybertruck’s side curtain airbags. Police reported one suspected minor injury. The Cybertruck driver declined hospital transport.
The missing 66 miles
In January 2024, Kyle Conner of Out of Spec Motoring drove a dual-motor Cybertruck on all-terrain tyres at 70 mph in cold weather. It covered 254 miles (409 km) on a charge, about a fifth short of Tesla’s 320-mile estimate for that version.
Separately, two drivers who had logged more than 10,000 miles in a shared Cybertruck said the most they had managed on a full charge was 206 miles.
The Subaru took the hill
At Hidden Falls Adventure Park in Texas that January, YouTuber Ben Levin found that the Cybertruck’s screen said its differential locks were ‘coming soon’. He lowered the tyre pressure, but the truck still spun its wheels and slid back down the steep climb. His friends made it up in a Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness and a Toyota 4Runner.
Levin also pointed to his own inexperience off-road.
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Orange freckles and a $5,000 wrap
The Cybertruck’s exceptionally durable stainless steel was difficult to flatten and bend at the factory, The Wall Street Journal reported. Owners had a more visible problem. Some spotted orange flecks on their trucks after rain. Tesla’s service guide attributes the spots to iron-bearing debris that rusts on the surface.
The steel came without a clear coat, and Tesla was offering a clear protective wrap for $5,000 at the time, according to Wired.
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Then came a sniper https://youtu.be/VLV-4HMrAz0?si=_bx06bPWwtK-WUKL&t=652rifle
Tesla had fired handgun and submachine gun rounds at the Cybertruck to show what its doors could withstand. In March 2024, Zack Nelson of JerryRigEverything tried several weapons on one. His 9mm rounds dented the outer panel and stopped there.
A .223 round from an AR-15 went through both the steel skin and the inner door panel. A .50-calibre rifle round also penetrated the door.
