The decision to halt production of Tesla’s polarizing polygonal pickup marks the end of an error.

Elon Musk, in a post on X, has officially called time on the Cybertruck, stating that “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.”

Produced for less than four years, the polarizing pickup is seemingly dying as it lived, with the news being greeted in a flurry of replies in praise of the EV as well as deriding it. James Star, claiming to be a Tesla employee, posted that it was “the saddest news! Cybertruck (was) the best car Tesla sold,” right next to a user called Captain Ford who simply replied to Musk with “Fuck that shitbox.”

  • mad_lentil@lemmy.ca
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    40 minutes ago

    I thought they looked cool. I just hated everything about them and around them or in any way associated with them.

  • dai@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    www.wired.com

    RIP Cybertruck. You Were Unloved, Unwanted, and Utterly Absurd

    Jeremy White

    5 - 7 minutes

    Elon Musk, in a post on X, has officially called time on the Cybertruck, stating that “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.”

    Produced for less than four years, the polarizing pickup is seemingly dying as it lived, with the news being greeted in a flurry of replies in praise of the EV as well as deriding it. James Star, claiming to be a Tesla employee, posted that it was “the saddest news! Cybertruck (was) the best car Tesla sold,” right next to a user called Captain Ford who simply replied to Musk with “Fuck that shitbox.”

    Tesla has not responded to WIRED’s request for comment and clarification that the Cybertruck will no longer be made at all. The Cybertruck is exclusively made at Gigafactory Texas, as this is apparently the only Tesla facility equipped with the machinery required to manufacture the truck’s unique stainless steel body, which supposedly started to rust in some cases.

    Despite whipping up a fevered number of reservations—allegedly more than a million according to Musk, who at the end of 2023 crowed that demand was “off the charts!”—the truck failed to sell, shifting less than 50,000 units in total by March last year.

    EVWire cites Kelley Blue Book data suggesting that Tesla sold 11,586 Cybertrucks in the first three quarters of this year in the US, down 28 percent year-over-year, adding that Musk’s announcement post came about 80 minutes after Tesla raised US Cybertruck prices and paused new orders for the entry-level Dual-Motor AWD version.

    The Cybertruck proved not only to be wildly unpopular, it was also beset by troubles before it even reached customers. In 2023, WIRED covered a leaked Tesla report dated January 25, 2022, that showed the Cybertruck had basic design flaws, and that the preproduction “alpha” version was struggling with problems with its suspension, body sealing, noise levels, handling, and braking.

    In November 2019, when Musk stepped onto a stage in California to launch his new cyberpunk-styled electric pickup, he decided to demonstrate the strength of the “unbreakable” glass windows by hurling a steel ball at them. In what has now entered into public relations folklore, the demo truck’s windows smashed not once, but twice. Musk swore, then joked: “There’s room for improvement.”

    There most certainly was. In April 2024, a recall was issued for the Cybertruck because its accelerator pedal pad could come loose and get trapped by interior trim, which had the frightening potential of pushing the car to full speed.

    In March last year, Tesla had to recall nearly all the Cybertrucks it had then produced because a stainless steel trim panel could become detached from the vehicle while driving, blaming the problem on the wrong type of glue, a new adhesive “not prone to environmental embrittlement.”

    Back in May this year, Cybertrucks were struck down by the wrong type of grease, which meant that their wheels could potentially fall off. In what was then the EV’s 11th recall, it was declared that the Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) Cybertruck Long Range model might have faulty brake rotors. In a notice posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Tesla stated that “brake rotor stud holes may crack and allow the stud to separate from the wheel hub.” Such a situation might have seen some RWD Cybertruck owners merrily driving along only to then be disconcertingly overtaken by their own wheels.

    Musk even tried to get President Donald Trump to buy one of his Cybertrucks, creating an impromptu Tesla showroom on the White House South Lawn, no less. But, sadly, even President Trump must have smelt something was off about the truck as instead he shunned the pickup and opted for a 200-mph Model S Plaid in ultra red, clearly impressed with the interior, remarking that “Everything’s computer!”

    At the end of 2024, Karl Brauer, executive analyst at car ranking service iSeeCars, told WIRED that he’d calculated that the Cybertruck’s six recalls to date at the time made the EV “worse than 91 percent” of all other 2024 vehicles.

    Yet, despite supposedly being so unreliable, the Cybertruck did find a small but loyal audience. WIRED profiled a number of owners last year, all fervently in love with their vehicles, but who were periodically forced to endure insults and taunts that they were Nazis, perhaps referring to an on-stage gesture Musk made at the start of 2025.

    However, despite evidence seemingly to the contrary, Musk claims he is killing the Cybertruck, not because of its unreliability and staggering unpopularity, but because he wishes to focus instead on Cybercab, an autonomous EV that is central to Tesla’s robotaxi ambitions but itself has had a rocky start.

    Currently operating in Austin only, with a fleet supposedly numbered only in the hundreds, Musk apparently wants to ramp up production dramatically since he confirmed on an earnings call the first cab came off the line in February.

    Musk sees Cybercab as very much the vision of Tesla’s future. The CEO has even said that Tesla should no longer be regarded as an automaker but as a robotics and autonomous vehicle company. “Cybertruck was an incredible ⁠technology development platform and lives on through Cybercab,” Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill said on X.

  • nullify3112@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    There’s so many child crushers on the road but that one is definitely one of the crushiest. Having fewer of them on the road is a wine for road safety, especially for everyone not in a car.

  • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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    8 hours ago

    and also dangerous to drive. when i ever see a CT driver, its either asian or a right winger, or right winger pedalling thier construction/Trade business(as a decal). as for asians (the ones immigrated from asia, mostly chinese) are quite ignorant of drama, so they think anything musk, is something to flex about.

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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      2 hours ago

      Someone had a cybertruck rapped for their business parked at a trunk or treat we brought my kid to last year. The guy looked surprised when the only thing that came out of my mouth was “ew”. It was my first time seeing one in person.

    • jaschen306@sh.itjust.works
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      6 hours ago

      Asians because we know a good deal when we see it, but don’t care about politics.

      I had to talk my dad out of buying it.

  • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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    9 hours ago

    So they are ending production of the vehicle nobody wanted in order to replace it with production of the vehicle no one will buy. Yeah I wouldn’t be getting into Tesla stock right now.

    Why don’t they just make more cars the people actually want?

    • unitedwithme@lemmy.today
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      8 hours ago

      Cybercabs will be for those businesses run by other wealthy billionaires so they can shuttle employees execs and high profilers around, overtake Rideshare companies, and can be sold in bulk vs consumers who’ve turned on Musk.

      Here comes the next auto industry bailout, T-Minus 10-12 years.

    • CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works
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      8 hours ago

      I think the model Y and 3 are still selling well. Im not sure how much variation you can really have with an EV considering most other cars are segmented by performance. Perhaps they could make a giant SUV or something but those people are already buying Tahoes, Yukons, and Escalades.

  • mHtt@lemmy.ca
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    10 hours ago

    the do serve the purpose of announcing a douchebag in the vicinity.

  • thatOneGuy@aussie.zone
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    9 hours ago

    Tesla had every opportunity to make the Cybertruck the modern-day DMC-12 (DeLorean); but it feels like Elon and the dream team fell out of the decision tree and got every wrong branch on the way down.

    • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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      9 hours ago

      They did do exactly that though. The DMC-12 was also an ugly badly-designed flop. It only gained iconic status as a result of its highly modded version in Back to the Future.

    • unitedwithme@lemmy.today
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      8 hours ago

      John DeLorean designed some of the hottest rides for GM before branching off on his own! He was truly a pioneer in the automotive design segment, despite a failure with his own company. I think drugs and a lavish lifestyle caught up with him by them.

  • m-p{3}@lemmy.ca
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    18 hours ago

    Existing Cybertruck owners will have fun sourcing parts as they break down.

    Me:
    Sarcastically Surprised Kirk Meme

    • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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      5 hours ago

      Lol I never thought about this, but yeah… I never buy anything that doesn’t have both plentiful parts, and videos on how to replace them.

      Neither exist for Cybertrucks. Because their owners are cybercucks. They want to pay others. They’re little bitches. They can’t wait to pay others to fix their shit while they watch.

      Rich little bitch people. That’s who they are.

    • MBech@feddit.dk
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      18 hours ago

      It’s gonna be hilarious when they can no longer get parts in 5 years. They’ll still swear to the quality of Tesla though.

      • [object Object]@lemmy.ca
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        17 hours ago

        They’ll just have to buy another new Tesla.

        Are they still blocking people from selling used cyber trucks?

          • Taldan@lemmy.world
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            16 hours ago

            Cybertruck purchase agreements prevented re-selling the truck for a year. It was an anti-scalping measure

            Turned out there wasn’t enough demand for the trucks for scalping to be a problem. It was only seen as necessary because of production delays and low production numbers, which probably contributed to apparent demand

            It is a little funny to think about in hindsight. Tesla was worried demand would be so high scalpers would be buying up vehicles to flip, but demand ended up being so low the line had to be stopped within 4 years

          • halcyoncmdr@piefed.social
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            16 hours ago

            The original delivery agreement for the Foundation Series (initial 1000 built) when they first launched required you to get Tesla’s permission to resell the vehicle for the first year.

            Which is common for limited availability vehicles upon release from basically every manufacturer. The average person is never buying limited edition vehicles so it’s not relevant to 99.9% of the population, and something they’ve never heard of. Ford does it with every limited release Mustang variant for a common example.

            The two primary reasons are essentially to prevent scalping, and so they can guarantee they receive back any vehicles with initial production run issues so engineers can study them. But facts don’t stop media reporting, especially when it comes to headlines about Musk.

            Some manufacturers keep ownership limitations like that in place indefinitely. Ferrari famously sued Deadmau5 because of his Purrari modifications, so he had to remove them and sold the car, replacing it with a Meowclaren instead.

            • egregiousRac@piefed.social
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              14 hours ago

              He specifically got in trouble for replacing the badge with a prancing cat and the Ferrari name with Purrari: Purrari Rear End

              • halcyoncmdr@piefed.social
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                14 hours ago

                One of the easiest and most common changes people make to their cars is changing or removing badges like that. Can’t with a Ferrari though.

                • cecilkorik@piefed.ca
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                  11 hours ago

                  I would say I would never buy a Ferrari (which is true anyway) but I also wouldn’t consider that to even qualify as actual ownership, so even if I did pay for one, I still wouldn’t be willing to call it “buying”.

      • Boomer Humor Doomergod@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        It’s got a massive battery pack that can be used for backup power. I’d totally buy one that doesn’t move and put it on blocks in front of my double wide.

      • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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        8 hours ago

        assuming the truck doesnt fall apart before then. its so cheaply made. it can slice a deer in half though.

    • Taldan@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      There are a lot of unsold Cybertrucks. The only reason so many even sold was because Musk used SpaceX to buy much of the inventory

      If there’s demand for the parts, they’ll be able to get them for a good while

  • OnyxRex@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    13 hours ago

    My main issue with the Cybertruck (before Elon revealed himself to be a total ass) was that ITS NOT A TRUCK. How can you call it a truck without a truck bed?

    • Exatron@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      It oddly matches a lot of other current day trucks in that regard. Auto manufacturers keep making them with bigger cabins and smaller beds.

      • OnyxRex@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 hours ago

        Unfortunately true. They sell more to people who do less. There’s no shame in owning a big van that can do the same things but still service a family.

      • tjhrulz@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        I’ll say it’s not that odd to me, as someone who used to work retail in a store environment that sold TVs in the US 75% of truck owners never use their truck for ‘truck’ purposes. Of the remaining 25% the majority still maybe do once a year typically as a favor for someone and not for personal use. Hardly anyone ever had something basic as bungee cords in their truck let alone ratchet straps when we would recommend keeping the TV upright and strapping it down. Literally after a while we just stopped even bothering to ask and we just broke company policy and would lay it down flat even though it risked it being damaged because we were tired of getting bad customer surveys about it when we would tell them if we lay it down and it is broken they can’t return it.

        Basically the vast vast vast majority of truck owners should it best just own an SUV (and don’t get me started about how many don’t understand how big their vehicle is when it comes to driving or parking; these days I drive a Ford t250 work truck for work and truck drivers continue to drive me insane)

    • CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works
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      8 hours ago

      Magnuson Moss Warranty Act dictates that they make parts for 10 years but in current America, laws mean a lot less than how many digits your bank account has.

  • ramenshaman@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    I respect them for attempting something so different but holy shit that thing was literally a dumpster fire

    • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      If you offered me a El Camino crossed with a DeLorean that was also an EV, I’d be hyped. The Cybertruck is neither of those things. It’s a lowploy SUV.

      edit: Actually. Give me the Gadgetmobile where the back is reconfigurable with different modules.

    • KeithD@lemmy.nz
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      14 hours ago

      It wasn’t always on fire. And when it was you could usually find at least someone willing to piss on it to try (and fail) to put it out. Hell, often when it wasn’t on fire, even.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        9 hours ago

        That should have been there slogan for it.

        Get a cyber truck, it isn’t always on fire