After two years of disappointing demand for its most iconic model, Tesla is set to change its strategy for the Cybertruck — the company’s chief executive Elon Musk announced on Wednesday.
As the company continues shifting its focus towards autonomy and robotics, the CEO said that Tesla will be transitioning the Cybertruck line “to just a fully autonomous” one.
Cybertruck deliveries began in the US in November 2023, four years after its unveiling event.
By then, Musk projected an annual production rate of 250,000 units “probably sometime in 2025.”
Last year, 20,237 Cybertrucks were sold in the US — representing only 8.1% of the target and a year over year decline of 48%, according to data published by Cox Automotive earlier this month.
The fourth quarter marked the fifth consecutive decline in registrations for the fully electric pick-up.
Its sales figures in other markets — such as the Middle East and South Korea, where the truck launched late in the year — are residual.
Last year, the company launched a more affordable version of the Cybertruck in both the US and Canada; however, it was discontinued in September.
Nearly all units of the model produced through February 2025 — around 46,000 vehicles — were affected by an NHTSA recall due to a cant rail possibly detaching while driving. The agency gave the model a 5-star safety rating later in the year.
Additionally, Tesla’s Cybertruck and Model 3 program manager Siddhant Awasthi exited the company last November.
However, VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy stated on Wednesday that the “Cybertruck can be a leader and is selling more than any other electric truck out there.”
“Our competition continues to pull back,” he added, likely referring to Ford’s production halt of the fully electric F-150 Lightning late last year.
Data shows that the F-150 Lightning accounted for 27,307 of Ford‘s vehicle sales last year.
Cybertruck Line
A shareholder posted on Say Technologies — a platform Tesla uses ahead of its earnings calls — that, “after the unveil of the Cybertruck, Elon [Musk] stated that if it didn’t sell well, Tesla would build a more conventional-looking pick-up.”
Last September, the company released a video in which clay mini-models of the Cybertruck could be seen in the background at Tesla‘s design studio, hinting at potential new versions of the vehicle.
The investor asked, “How practical would it be to create this new design on the Cybertruck architecture, and could it be conveniently built on the existing production lines?”
According to Moravy, “from a line standpoint, we always design our lines to be super flexible. We’ve built 3 and Y on the same line. We built S and X on the same line still, showing that we can do that.”
“The Cybertruck line was designed in the same way and is one of our most fully ready for autonomy platforms,” the executive said.
Additionally, Musk announced the company “will transition the Cybertruck line to just a fully autonomous line.”
Delivery Fleets
In recent years, several companies have been electrifying their commercial fleets. Tesla was expected to enter this market primarily through its Semi truck.
The company reaffirmed on Wednesday that volume production for the model is on schedule to begin in the first half of the year.
Late last year, DHL confirmed it is adding more Semi trucks to its fleet in 2026. PepsiCo also operates the trucks.
However, Musk has now hinted at delivery fleets with a potential autonomous Cybertruck model.
“There’s obviously a market there for cargo delivery, like you say, localized cargo delivery within a city, within a few hundred miles, something like that,” the CEO said.
And, as “there’s a lot of cargo that needs to move locally within a city, an autonomous Cybertruck could be very useful for that,” he suggested.
GM halted production of its electric delivery van (EDV) business BrightDrop late last year, just a month after Amazon was spotted testing the vehicle.
The retail giant initially ordered 100,000 Rivian EDVs as part of its early support for the the Irvine-based EV maker.
According to the latest update, it had deployed more than 35,000 of these vans in its fleet until November.
Rivian‘s R1 models have been deployed across several governmental fleets. The company recently pitched its R1T pick-up to Ford buyers after the F-150 EV was cancelled.
