During the design phase for the Cybertruck, Elon Musk put together his perfect car: A massive truck to assuage his crippled ego, bulletproof doors to keep out his imagined attackers, a huge battery for self-sufficiency in an unrealistic apocalypse, and an impractical and inherently compromised design because he can’t think about anything beyond what looks cool to what’s left of his out-of-touch, cyberpunk-obsessed, ketamine-riddled brain.
Unfortunately for Tesla, the company didn’t set out to build The Homer. It wants “sales” and “profit” and all those other business words, and the Cybertruck simply isn’t delivering. Now, the company has decided to introduce lower-cost trims just to move its ever-increasing backlog of unsold, unwanted Cybertrucks clogging up the company’s lots. Automotive News has the data:
Despite Musk’s claims of over 1 million Cybertruck reservations before its November 2023 launch, the polarizing pickup came up short in its first full year of production, according to industry estimates and U.S. registration data.
In 2024, Tesla sold about 39,000 Cybertrucks in the U.S., according to a Jan. 13 estimate from Cox Automotive. S&P Global Mobility said there were 35,235 Cybertruck registrations from November 2023 to November 2024, the most recent data available.
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“I think the initial fanfare, excitement and hype for the Cybertruck has quickly evaporated,” said Robby DeGraff, manager of product insights at AutoPacific. “I’ve seen way more F-150 Lightning and R1T owners actually using their trucks for work or play, rather than showboating around town with tacky aftermarket wraps.”
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In October 2024, Tesla launched the $79,990 version that comes with a $1,995 shipping charge. Later this year, Tesla is expected to sell a base Cybertruck at $62,985 with shipping. The lower-priced trims qualify for the $7,500 federal EV credit as long as they stay under the $80,000 price cap. Tesla no longer plans to offer the $40,000 trim.
So the cheapest model is discontinued, and the now-expected replacement barely undercuts the current base trim rather than halving its price. This is, somehow, still intended to turn the niche-appeal Cybertruck into a mass-market vehicle. Good thing the company focused on this rather than a budget model, right?