Elon Musk at VivaTech in Paris, 16 June 2023
Tesla will have to refund deposits to many Cybertruck customers because orders far exceed what it can build, chief executive Elon Musk said on Monday, in a post on X.
The Cybertruck order rate far exceeds our production rate. 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.
This is not a case of Cybertruck being unprofitable, as has been misreported by legacy media, but rather that the opportunity cost of the complexity of Cybertruck is vastly outweighed by the value of incremental Cybercab production.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2026
“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,” Musk wrote.
He did not say how many customers would get refunds, or how much money was involved.
The post follows Musk’s announcement on Friday that Tesla will start winding down Cybertruck production at its Texas factory around the middle of 2027. The move will free up space to build more Cybercabs, Tesla’s robotaxi.
Musk has also said Tesla will add an extra production shift to fill outstanding Cybertruck orders before the line is taken apart, Reuters reported.
The factory near Austin is the only known Tesla plant that builds the pickup. It is not clear whether the truck will be made anywhere else.
The Cybercab is a two-seat car with no steering wheel or pedals, and the company began building it in Texas earlier this year and started offering paid rides in Austin in September.
Tesla unveiled the steel-bodied Cybertruck in 2019 and began deliveries in late 2023, after several delays. Musk once said the truck could sell 250,000 units a year.
Tesla raised Cybertruck prices again in August, putting the cheapest version at $74,990. Last month it also cancelled reservations in Australia and New Zealand, nearly seven years after it began taking them, according to Not a Tesla App.
Sales have fallen far short of that. US sales fell 48% to 20,237 last year, down from 38,965 in 2024, according to Kelley Blue Book. Sales in the first nine months of this year fell a further 28%, the Associated Press reported, citing the same data.
In response to a user on X, Musk called the Cybertruck the “best vehicle Tesla has ever made” and the wind-down the “end of an era”.
The Cybercab plays a central role in Musk’s plan to turn Tesla into an AI and robotics company. Tesla lists an installed capacity of more than 125,000 Cybercabs a year at the Texas plant.
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