The Tesla Cybertruck Isn’t Living Up To Expectations

A less months earlier nan first Cybertrucks were delivered to customers, Tesla CEO Elon Musk sewage connected a telephone pinch investors and said he wanted to “temper expectations” astir nan polarizing vehicle.

“It’s a awesome product, but financially, it will take, I don’t know, a twelvemonth to 18 months earlier it is simply a important affirmative complaint recreation contributor,” Musk said successful nan October 2023 call. But, ever nan showman, Musk couldn’t defy injecting immoderate hype.

“The petition is disconnected nan charts,” he said. “We personification complete 1 cardinal group who personification reserved nan car.”

But overmuch than a twelvemonth later, that petition appears to personification dried up.

Yesterday, Tesla reported its 4th 4th accumulation and proscription numbers for 2024, giving america arsenic adjacent to a complete image of nan Cybertruck’s first afloat twelvemonth of income arsenic we’re going to get. Tesla doesn’t break retired Cybertruck numbers specifically, alternatively lumping them successful pinch its 2 older vehicles, nan Model S and Model X, arsenic “other models.”

Tesla said it produced 94,105 vehicles successful that people successful 2024, of which 85,133 were delivered to customers. Kevin Roberts, caput of economical and marketplace intelligence astatine CarGurus, estimates that betwixt 35,000–50,000 of those “other models” sold complete nan group of nan twelvemonth were Cybertrucks.

“How you position nan Cybertruck depends connected what your expectations going successful were,” Roberts tells me. “If you thought it was going to beryllium a ample measurement vehicle, a la Ford F-150 competitor, it hasn’t spell a ample measurement competitor. But if you comparison it to, say, a mode pickup aliases nan Ford F-150 Lightning, I think it’s done beautiful well.”

And yet, nan Cybertruck did not meaningfully lend to Tesla’s maturation successful 2024, arsenic evidenced by nan truth that nan institution reported its first year-over-year income diminution successful complete a decade.

Musk claimed that complete 1 cardinal group reserved a Cybertruck, and truthful far, that has not resulted successful 1 cardinal Cybertrucks connected nan road. To beryllium sure, it’s still early days for nan angular EV, and it could still beryllium to beryllium a success. But Tesla lowered nan deposit preservation to $100, aft initially asking for $1,000, which apt boosted reservations among group who astir apt weren’t going to extremity up buying one.

And past location was nan rocky rollout: nan viral videos of a Cybertruck getting stuck successful snowfall aliases sand; nan galore recalls (seven since its motorboat successful December 2023), including 1 related to a faulty accelerator pedal; and Musk’s emergence arsenic a stalwart protagonist of Donald Trump and a purveyor of racist, rightwing conspiracies.

Even still, nan Cybertruck seemed to recreation retired of nan gross strong. It was America’s best-selling electrical motortruck successful Q2 of 2024, nan third-best-selling EV successful nan authorities successful Q3, and nan best-selling conveyance costing complete $100,000 successful nan first half of nan year. 

In July, it almost matched mixed income of each different electrical trucks connected nan market, including nan Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, GMC Hummer EV, and Chevy Silverado EV. But immoderate analysts suggested that Tesla whitethorn personification been filling a backlog of older orders astatine nan time, which would propose that nan income numbers weren’t related to accrued demand.

But arsenic nan twelvemonth went on, grounds emerged that nan Cybertruck whitethorn personification already passed its peak. There were anecdotal reports of Cybertrucks piling up connected utilized car lots. Tesla Cybertruck mill workers successful Austin were told to enactment location for 3 days successful December.

Meanwhile, dozens of constricted type Foundation Series Cybertrucks, nan first type of nan motortruck to spell connected sale, were piling up successful nan automaker’s inventory, starring Tesla to reportedly commencement buffing nan badging disconnected truthful they could beryllium sold arsenic regular models. And nan worth of a utilized Cybertruck keeps dropping: $104,300 connected mean connected December 30th, down from $107,800 nan play before, according to CarGurus.

“What’s going connected pinch utilized Cybertrucks and we tin spot nan number of days those vehicles have been sitting connected tons has been going up,” Roberts says. “And nan mean worth of utilized Cybertrucks has been trending down.”

A brand-new Cybertruck is still very, very expensive: leasing starts astatine astir $900 a month, while personification consenting successful buying an all-wheel thrust guidelines exemplary would beryllium expected to driblet astatine slightest $90,000.

And while nan Cybertruck conscionable precocious qualified for nan nationalist EV taxation successful installments of $7,500, that usage is apt to beryllium short-lived, arsenic Trump is expected to termination nan in installments — pinch Musk’s backing. Musk still has a less overmuch months to make bully connected his state from 2023 that nan Cybertruck will beryllium a “significant complaint recreation contributor” incorrect 18 months — but nan outlook looks grim.

Tesla could personification followed up nan enormously successful Model Y pinch an moreover overmuch affordable EV, which is what a batch of analysts and investors were expecting. But instead, Musk introduced a highly polarizing, questionably made, mode conveyance that will apt ne'er discarded arsenic galore units arsenic its predecessors.

“Tesla has had a ample measurement hit, nan Model Y is successful nan apical 5 trading vehicles successful nan US,” Roberts says. “So they tin get those ample measurement vehicles. The Cybertruck conscionable hasn’t been that. And it’s going to look immoderate headwinds successful 2025 that could make it a business for it to get to that benignant of measurement status.”