Tesla will wind down production of its Cybertruck pickup at the Gigafactory in Texas around the middle of 2027, chief executive Elon Musk has announced, bringing the curtain down on one of the most talked-about vehicles of the past decade and clearing factory space for the company's driverless Cybercab.
Musk confirmed the decision in a post on X on Friday 6 November, writing: “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.” The announcement was reported by Reuters and corroborated by CNBC, the Financial Times and The Verge.
The move is a major retreat from what was once one of Musk's signature projects. When the angular, stainless-steel pickup was unveiled in November 2019, Musk presented it as a futuristic rival to America's best-selling legacy trucks and spoke of building 250,000 to 500,000 a year. Deliveries finally began in late 2023 after repeated delays, but demand never came close to those ambitions.
Sales figures underline how far the Cybertruck fell short. According to Kelley Blue Book figures cited by Reuters, Tesla sold 20,237 Cybertrucks in the United States in 2025, down 48 per cent from 38,965 in 2024. Cox Automotive estimates put sales in the first nine months of 2026 at just 11,586, down 28 per cent year on year, amounting to about 1.6 per cent of US electric vehicle sales.
The vehicle also faced repeated setbacks on quality. Reuters reported that the Cybertruck had been hit by multiple recalls and quality-control problems since its launch, while Tesla repeatedly revised its prices in an effort to stimulate demand. The recalls, which number eleven according to reports, covered issues ranging from trim panels to accelerator pedals.
It remains unclear whether Cybertruck production will move to another factory or stop altogether. Tesla's Austin plant is the only known facility equipped to manufacture the model's specialised components, including its stainless-steel exoskeleton, and Musk gave no indication of a replacement site or a final assembly date.
The space freed up at Gigafactory Texas will go to the Cybercab, the two-seater robotaxi that has become the centrepiece of Musk's plan to turn Tesla from a carmaker into an artificial intelligence and robotics company. The Cybercab has butterfly doors and no steering wheel, pedals or mirrors, and Tesla began offering paid rides in a small fleet of the vehicles in Austin in September.
The robotaxi programme is still small. Tesla has listed installed Cybercab capacity of more than 125,000 units, but only about 570 of the more than 1,200 Tesla robotaxis operating in Texas are Cybercabs, with the rest mainly Model Y vehicles, according to the state's Department of Motor Vehicles. Analysts note the Cybercab is unlikely to make up for lost Cybertruck volumes any time soon.
Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill struck a reflective note on X, saying the truck “was an incredible technology development platform and lives on through Cybercab”. Musk, asked whether the announcement marked the end of an era, replied that the Cybertruck was “the best vehicle Tesla has ever made” and that the existing fleet “will be around for a long time”.
The decision is part of a much wider reshaping of Tesla. The company ended production of its premium Model S and Model X cars earlier this year, began mass production of the Tesla Semi in April, and is concentrating investment on the Cybercab, the Optimus humanoid robot and the Semi as Chinese rivals put pressure on conventional electric car sales. Musk is also exploring a merger between Tesla and SpaceX, with both companies' boards having formed special committees to evaluate the idea.
For owners, the immediate picture is unchanged: the tens of thousands of Cybertrucks already on the road will keep running, and Tesla has given no indication of any change to servicing or support. For the wider industry, though, the wind-down is a telling moment — the moment Tesla formally traded its boldest consumer vehicle for a bet that its future lies in driverless cars and robots rather than in selling pickups.
What happens next will depend on how quickly the Cybercab programme scales. Tesla has said it aims to deliver Cybercabs to customers by the end of 2026, and the freed-up Gigafactory Texas capacity is meant to make that possible. If the robotaxi network grows as Musk hopes, the Cybertruck will be remembered as the stepping stone to it; if it stalls, the decision to abandon a production vehicle for an unproven one will face far harder questions.
