Elon Musk confirms that thousands of Cybertruck buyers won't be getting their vehicles

The Cybertruck will cease production next year, with the wind-down slated for mid-2027 at Tesla's facility outside Austin, Texas.

Elon Musk announced the model's demise on Friday in a curt post on X, his social media site, noting that production of the vehicle “will be winding down” around mid-2027.

Musk said the move was to allow increased production of the Cybercab robotaxi, a vehicle central to the automaker's autonomous-driving ambitions. The Tesla CEO has also said the company will add an extra production shift to fulfill outstanding Cybertruck orders before dismantling the production line next year.

Musk said many customers who put down deposits for the pickup will have to be refunded, as orders far exceed production capacity. "We will try to make as many as possible before shutting down the line in about 8 months, but will have to return deposits for a lot of people," the billionaire said in a post on X on Monday.

For the Cybertruck, a pet project of Musk who insisted it was Tesla's best product, it marks an unceremonious end to one of the auto industry's most ballyhooed debuts.

“Few vehicles in history have generated as much attention,” said Armen Hareyan, whose Torque News site covers autos. “The Cybertruck became a cultural symbol – loved, mocked and impossible to ignore.”

The truck rolled onto the scene in a dramatic unveiling in 2019, when a Tesla designer hurled a metal ball at the vehicle to demonstrate its supposedly unbreakable glass, only to see it shatter. He repeated the stunt on another window of the truck, shattering that one, too. Even as some critics scoffed, Musk was steadfast.

“I just wanted to make a futuristic battle tank — something that looks like it could come out of ‘Blade Runner’ or ‘Aliens’ or something like that but was also highly functional,” he told Automotive News.

He called it “a better sports car than a Porsche 911” and “a better truck than an F-150.” It struck some as the perfect vehicular reflection of the brash, convention-busting Musk.

“A really controversial vehicle unveiled by a controversial individual into a market where none of the electric trucks have been able to really capture demand,” said Spencer Penn, a former Tesla executive who left the company before the Cybertruck's launch and now heads software developer LightSource.

Penn remembered watching the unveiling and feeling initially revolted by the sight of the Cybertruck, calling its appearance “madness.” But the more he looked at it, the more his opinion changed. He signed up for a pre-sale reservation, though ended up not getting a Cybertruck when Musk's promises of a price tag under $40,000 went unmet and the first trucks sold for double or more.

Penn called the Cybertruck part of Tesla's adventurous spirit that drives innovation. “Some of these bets work and some of these bets don’t,” he said. Tesla began delivering the Cybertruck in late 2023, but demand has fallen far short of Musk's expectations.

Musk once forecast he'd make 250,000 Cybertrucks a year. U.S. sales fell 48% to 20,237 units last year, according to Kelley Blue Book, well below Musk's earlier projection that annual Cybertruck sales could reach 250,000 vehicles. Sales through the end of September this year were down another 28%, according to Kelley Blue Book.

While the decision to end Cybertruck production may be driven by sales realities, it also reflects Tesla's shift to autonomous vehicles, on which Musk is betting the company's future. If the imposing, sharp-angled, dystopian appearance of the Cybertruck weren't enough to turn many potential buyers away, Musk did so himself by allying with a panoply of right-wing figures, most notably President Donald Trump.

He alienated some customers as his image morphed from eccentric innovator to polarizing force, trading his billions for political influence. Once-passionate Tesla drivers rushed to sell off their cars, or slapped stickers on the bumper declaring, “I bought this before Elon went crazy.” Organizers staged demonstrations outside Tesla showrooms and urged investors to dump shares of the company's stock.

Anger spilled into violence, with Molotov cocktails hurled at Tesla vehicles, charging stations set ablaze, and dealerships covered in graffiti. Lovers of the Cybertruck became targets, too, subjected to shouts of “Nazi!” and extended middle fingers. Ross Blankenship is one of them.

When he first laid eyes on the Cybertruck, he felt transported back to his childhood, when he played “Halo,” the sci-fi video game. He had to have it. “I had that sort of child in me wanting to be part of something cool that would change the future of automotive,” Blankenship said in a call from his Cybertruck as he drove through Sunnyside, Colorado.

Even though Blankenship agreed with Musk on politics, he hated seeing a vehicle he loved turned into a political symbol. “I never bought it for any other reason than the fascination with the future technology of trucks … so that was a little heartbreaking.” He would buy another Cybertruck again in a heartbeat, calling its end “a sad moment.” The stainless-steel pickup, which inspired devotion and derision with its science-fiction looks, will stop rolling off the line in Texas next year.