Tesla has revealed Cybertruck deliveries in the US, confirming that it can’t sell the electric truck even with federal tax credits and discounts.
As we previously reported, Tesla is highly opaque about its vehicle deliveries. Unlike most other automakers, Tesla doesn’t breakdown deliveries per model – making it more difficult to track the health of each vehicle program.
This includes Cybertruck deliveries, which are bundled with Model S and Model X deliveries.
With Tesla’s announcement today that it recalled all Cybertrucks produced up until last month, the company confirmed that it made and delivered 46,000 Cybertrucks in the US since launching production in late 2023.
By comparing them to previous numbers, it means that Tesla is only going to deliver between 7,000 and 8,000 Cybertrucks in Q1 2025.
That would be significantly down from the last two quarters when Tesla is estimated to have delivered between 10,000 and 12,000 Cybertruck.
It is a bad look considering the Cybertruck gained access to the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles this quarter, and Tesla started to discount the truck with free Supercharger and subsidized financing rates.
The lower financing rate is equivalent to slashing thousands of dollars off of the Cybertruck.
Tesla also launched its Cybertruck lease program last month and offered free wraps on Foundations Series.
If deliveries are dropping even with those new incentives, it’s a clear sign that the Cybertruck program is in distress.
At this point, Tesla’s only hope is the upcoming cheaper Cybertruck RWD expected to start at $61,000 later this year.
Electrek’s Take
At this point, it’s clear that the Cybertruck is not production-constrained. It is demand-constrained.
Tesla set up production at Gigafactory Texas to be capable of 250,000 units per year, according to Elon Mus, who said that he even sees Tesla selling 500,000 units per year, and it is now having issues selling the truck at a rate of 40,000 units per year.
Top comment by Ryan Ballantyne
Some companies, perhaps even most companies, would fire a CEO who bungled the Cybertruck as badly as Elon has.
First, he promised impossible things at the unveiling, leading to a dramatic over-inflation of the reservation count. That reservation tally then led to an over-investment in production capacity, and also to the notion that the product would be a hit.
When the reality of the product did not match the promise, most reservation holders elected not to convert. Now it's a flop. The entire thing was Elon's idea, start to finish. The board should be holding him to account.
Unfortunately, he has committed far graver sins than that, without any consequence and indeed, with great reward. It's absurd, and Tesla will die because of it.
This is bad.
Sure, the RWD version will help a bit, but by how much? 50%? That would still only be 60,000 units per year.
I would also mention that the RWD version was the least desirable on based on reservation tallies. However, to be fair, that was before Tesla announced massive price hikes on the truck and confirmed that it doesn’t deliver on the originally announced range.
It’s wild to me that Tesla shareholders and Elon fans don’t see this a giant red flag for Elon. Tesla has launched a single new vehicle in 5 years, the Cybertruck, and it is a flop. At what point do you start to blame management?
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments