Tesla is winding down the Cybertruck so Cybercab can take its factory floor
Musk said Cybertruck production at Gigafactory Texas winds down around the middle of next year for Cybercab. Cox Automotive estimated 20,237 U.S. Cybertruck sales last year, far below Musk's earlier prediction that annual sales would eventually total 250,000. The AI pivot is eating the product line.
By Connor O'Brien ·
Why it matters: Tesla's robotaxi bet is no longer abstract: it's taking floor space from the Cybertruck at the plant once framed as the Cybertruck factory.
For information only, not investment advice. Prices delayed.
Tickers: TSLA
Tesla ($TSLA) is clearing the floor for the next act. On Friday, Elon Musk wrote: “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”1
That sentence is the whole story. The truck that was supposed to remake pickups is giving up production space at the Texas plant Tesla once described as the "Cybertruck factory," making room for more Cybercabs. CNBC: “Musk, who hailed the Cybertruck as the future of the pickup truck segment, said in a post on X early Friday morning that the end of production at the massive facility would make room for manufacturing of its Cybercab robotaxi.”3 TechCrunch: “It was supposed to be such a cornerstone of Tesla’s future that, before construction began, the company talked about its Texas factory as the “Cybertruck factory.””4
The future of the pickup never got past a niche
Musk sold the Cybertruck as a break with a century of sameness. CNBC still has him at the 2019 unveil: "Trucks have been the same for a very long time," Musk said when the truck was unveiled in 2019. "Like 100 years. Trucks have been basically the same. We want to try something different."
The market answered with a shrug. CNBC reports: “The Cybertruck and its polarizing design gained a niche following, but it did not achieve mass-market sales, despite Musk's pre-launch prediction that annual sales would eventually total 250,000.”3 Cox Automotive put U.S. sales last year at 20,237, down 48% from 38,965 in 2024.3 TechCrunch’s count is even blunter: “But Tesla has instead sold just tens of thousands — total — over the last three years.”4
The product also missed its own early pitch. At the 2019 reveal, where designer Franz von Holzhausen cracked the truck's windows with steel balls, Tesla promised a starting price under $40,000 and up to 500 miles of range, and it hit neither, TechCrunch noted.4 The base price instead rose to about $60,000, and top-end range fell by more than 100 miles, TechCrunch reported.4 The 2024 model carried 11 voluntary recalls, per NHTSA as reported by CNBC.3
One of the big buyers last year was inside the Musk orbit. SpaceX, Musk's aerospace company, spent $131 million on Cybertrucks at Tesla's list price last year, CNBC reported, citing a SpaceX financial filing.3 A truck whose big buyers include the CEO's other company is a hard sell as a mass-market pickup.
The best case for clearing the floor
Here’s the strongest other side, and I mean it. Factory space is finite. Tesla already decided to end Model S and Model X production to make room for Optimus robots.4 If Cybercab is the higher-margin use of the same square footage, winding Cybertruck down at Gigafactory Texas is capital allocation, not a tantrum. Musk also said: “@OwenSparks True, but the Cybertruck fleet will be around for a long time”2 The steel wedges already sold don’t vanish because the line slows.
I’ll take that seriously. A company that wants to be an AI and robotics firm will keep cutting metal that doesn’t scale. But that is exactly why Friday matters: Tesla is no longer treating the Cybertruck as the franchise. The franchise is the taxi that hasn’t yet replaced the truck on the sales chart.
What the pivot costs
Tesla shares were at $377.77, up 5.46%, as of 12:04 PM ET Nov 9 on the Sainteur ticker. I’m not telling you what that price should be. I’m saying the market can cheer a robotaxi story while the truck Tesla once framed its Texas plant around is scheduled to wind down. When the “Cybertruck factory” becomes a Cybercab bay, the AI pivot isn’t a slide in an investor deck. It’s the line on the floor.
Sources
Tags: ev-autos · ai · markets-moves · guidance