Marques Brownlee — the tech reviewer known as MKBHD to his 20.8 million YouTube subscribers — revealed this week that Tesla has stopped communicating with him, forcing him to source vehicles from a local dealer for his reviews.
The fallout traces back to late 2024, when Brownlee sold his Cybertruck after eight months of ownership, choosing to keep his Rivian R1T instead.
Tesla shareholders on social media accused him of turning against the company. Then Elon Musk unfollowed him on X.
“Some people on Twitter posted about me selling my Cybertruck, and seemed to think I’ve turned against Tesla or something,” Brownlee said in a TikTok video filmed at the dealership. “Elon unfollows me on Twitter. Everyone goes nuts. I never hear from Tesla again.”
The disclosure came through a series of TikTok videos published this week by George Saliba, a New Jersey car dealer who runs J&S Autohaus in Ewing.
Saliba has become a recurring figure in MKBHD’s automotive content — he was the dealer who supplied the Fisker Ocean that Brownlee called “the worst car I’ve ever reviewed” in 2024, a video that preceded Fisker’s bankruptcy filing by three months.
This time, Brownlee visited Saliba’s lot to borrow a Tesla Model Y Performance after the automaker would not provide a press car.
“Tesla stopped talking to me,” Brownlee said, adding that it wasn’t because of a negative review.
Automakers typically offer loan vehicles to journalists and influencers for weeklong test drives, and Tesla had supplied Brownlee with cars in the past.
His 2022 review of the Model S Plaid — in which he called it the “best overall car of the last decade” — was among his most-viewed automotive videos.
The Model Y Performance review was published on his YouTube channel ‘Auto Focus’ in mid-January.
In it, Brownlee said the company still leads in several key areas, despite highlighting rising competition from Lucid Motors, Rivian and General Motors.
“The thing about testing one and actually driving a Tesla for a while, you start to remember all of the ways that Tesla is still ahead of the competition,” Brownlee stated in the video.
Cybertruck vs. Rivian
The relationship between Brownlee and Tesla began to deteriorate after the Cybertruck delivery event in late 2023.
Brownlee flagged that Tesla was “straight up not delivering” on its promises after first announcing that the model would have a 500-mile range and a starting price of $40,000.
Instead, the model launched with just over 300 miles and a base price of over $70,000.
Brownlee had ordered both the Cybertruck and the Rivian R1T “before even seeing either one,” he told Saliba. He took delivery of both, but ultimately decided he didn’t need two electric pickups.
“I got the Rivian, it was great. I got the Cybertruck, it was great. And I didn’t need to keep both. So I sold the Cybertruck and kept the Rivian,” he said.
That decision triggered the chain of events that ended his relationship with the company.
Roadster Deposit
Last September, Brownlee publicly canceled his $50,000 deposit on the upcoming Tesla Roadster, which Tesla had held for eight years.
The unveiling and demo are scheduled for April.
“Tesla has been sitting with my 50 grand for eight years and hasn’t done anything with it, obviously,” he said on the Waveform Podcast.
The new Roadster has faced repeated delays since its initial unveiling in 2017, when the company began accepting $50,000 deposits for the $200,000 base model and $250,000 for the Founders Series.
Elon Musk revealed that production of the Roadster is expected to begin in mid-to-late 2027, approximately 12 to 18 months after the demonstration event.
Late last month, Brownlee reacted to news that Tesla will discontinue the Model S and Model X by commenting “Oh Roadster is so cooked,” to which Musk replied that the upcoming model “will be incredible.”
Cybercab Bet
Tesla announced on Tuesday that the first Cybercab has rolled off the production line at Giga Texas, about six weeks earlier than originally scheduled — and just 20 days after the company reaffirmed that timeline.
The news prompted Tesla enthusiasts on social media to recall a bet made by Brownlee in late 2024, upon the unveiling of the model.
By that point, the YouTuber said he would shave his head if Tesla was able to deliver a Cybercab to a customer priced at $30,000 before 2027.
“I mean, this is notorious Elon stuff. He gets on stage, he says ‘we’re gonna have this vehicle out for $30,000 before 2027,'” Brownlee stated in a video then.
“No, they’re not, There’s just no way that they’re actually going to be able to do that,” he added.
Hours after the company announced the first produced unit of the model, Musk wrote in an X reply that the bet is “gonna happen.”
Reminded that the bet required a customer delivery and a $30,000 base-price, Musk affirmed that he was implying that will also be achieved before 2027.
