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Musk says Tesla will wind down Cybertruck production in Texas

Musk says the Texas plant, the only known Cybertruck site, will make room for more Cybercab taxis, but gave no word on moving production.

Elon Musk in 2025
Elon Musk in 2025. Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
18 news outlets reported this
Liberal8 outletsWeak sales and Musk's politics behind the endCenter7 outletsWhy the Cybertruck fell short, and Cybercab's riseConservative3 outletsMissed sales targets and Tesla's pivot to Cybercab
Published 3 min read
Overview

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X on Friday that the company will wind down Cybertruck production at Gigafactory Texas around the middle of next year. He said the goal is to make room for increased production of the Cybercab, Tesla's driverless taxi, which has no steering wheel or pedals. The Texas plant is the only known site that makes the Cybertruck.

Musk did not say whether production would move elsewhere or end entirely. In replies on X, he said the "Cybertruck fleet will be around for a long time." The truck went on sale in 2023.

Kelley Blue Book estimates 20,237 were sold in the US in 2025, down from 38,965 in 2024. Musk had predicted sales of about 250,000 a year. Tesla does not report Cybertruck sales as a separate line.

Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill wrote on X that the truck "lives on through Cybercab." Tesla began offering paid Cybercab rides in Austin in September. The US auto safety agency NHTSA opened an audit query on Sept. 4 into whether Tesla's certification of the Cybercab meets federal safety standards.

Key figures
  • 20,237 Cybertrucks sold in the US in 2025, per Kelley Blue Book — The Epoch Times
  • 38,965 Cybertrucks sold in 2024, per Cox Automotive's estimate — Just the News
  • 250,000 annual sales Musk had predicted — Just the News
  • 8,295 Tesla "Other Models" deliveries in the third quarter, per Reuters — New York Post
  • around 71,000 total Cybertruck sales since 2023, per Kelley Blue Book as cited by Yahoo — Yahoo News

Three sides of the story

Liberal8 outlets

Weak sales and Musk's politics behind the end

ABC News runs a wire report that calls the Cybertruck "a stainless-steel electric vehicle with a polarizing allure" and says it became a "political touchstone" as Musk allied with President Trump. It cites Kelley Blue Book's estimate of a 48% sales drop from 2024 to 2025. Yahoo News opens with "So long, Tesla (TSLA) Cybertruck, we hardly knew ye," recalls Musk's claim that demand was "so far off the hook," and notes the company's claim of over 1 million preorders.

It reports that Kelley Blue Book estimated sales "around 71,000" since 2023, while Tesla had built capacity at its Austin plant for 250K a year. The New Republic's headline calls it "Elon Musk's Dumbest Product," ties the news to Tesla's 11 percent share drop after the Democratic sweep and says Democrats have signaled plans to investigate Musk. Al Jazeera calls Musk a "Trillionaire," describes the truck as a symbol of opposition to him, notes his midterm spending of nearly half a billion dollars and says he did not say whether another factory would build it.

Center7 outlets

Why the Cybertruck fell short, and Cybercab's rise

Deutsche Welle calls the truck a "flop" in its headline and spends much of its piece on why it fell short: an electric powertrain that was probably a barrier in the US pickup market, and EU pedestrian-safety rules that kept it from being registered for road use in Europe. It adds that SpaceX was the biggest buyer in 2025, with vehicles worth $131 million, and that around 300 Cybercabs are registered and operating near Austin. BBC News says Musk "appears to signal" the end, quotes lead engineer Wes Morrill's post and cites a $61,000 price for the fully loaded version and $102,000 for the 2026 Cyberbeast.

Straight Arrow News headlines a "slowdown," lists the recalls and quotes NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison on the Cybercab audit query: "we need to ensure that all of our laws are followed." The Las Vegas Review-Journal ran the same wire report as ABC News.

Conservative3 outlets

Missed sales targets and Tesla's pivot to Cybercab

The Epoch Times headlines mid-2027 as the end of Texas production and notes that Musk did not confirm Tesla was ending the Cybertruck altogether. It describes the Cybercab, saying federal standards now demand manual controls like brake pedals and the Transportation Department is revising some of them for driverless cars. It also quotes former Aston Martin CEO Palmer saying the truck "won't go, can't go" where pedestrian-impact rules apply.

The New York Post runs a Reuters report under a headline saying the truck "struggles to win appeal." It gives 8,295 "Other Models" deliveries in the third quarter, down from 12,364 in the second, and says Tesla still has to answer the safety agency's Cybercab questions. Just the News opens with Cox Automotive's estimate of 20,237 sales in 2025, down from 38,965 in 2024, and notes Musk gave no details on the decision.

Where outlets disagree
All sources: 21 articles from 18 outlets

Liberal (9)

Center (9)

Conservative (3)

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