Tesla has abandoned plans to sell the Cybertruck in Australia and New Zealand, canceling reservations that customers began placing almost seven years ago and offering them a year of its driver-assistance software if they buy another model instead.
“After careful consideration, plans to produce Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand have been discontinued,” Tesla told reservation holders in an email on Friday titled “Important Update to Your Cybertruck Reservation.”
“As a result, we’re unable to fulfil your reservation and it will be cancelled,” the email said. “You’ll receive a full refund for any payments made.”
“We appreciate this may be disappointing news and apologise for any inconvenience caused,” it added. A copy shared on X by Tesla shareholder Sawyer Merritt was signed “Tesla New Zealand.”
The company did not give a reason beyond “careful consideration.” Tesla Australia has not commented further, and the Cybertruck no longer appears on its local website.
A Year of FSD for a Model 3 or Model Y
“To thank you for your early support, we’d like to offer you a complimentary 1-year Full Self-Driving (Supervised) subscription when you order a new Tesla Model 3 or Model Y,” Tesla said.
The subscription costs A$149 ($105) a month in Australia, putting the offer’s value at A$1,788 ($1,300) over 12 months.
The subscription “will be applied to your new order associated with this email address and activated post-delivery,” and the offer “may be combined with our limited-time current benefits,” the email said.
The email marks the subscription with an asterisk referring to further terms, which do not appear in the copies shared publicly. Reports say the order must be placed by the end of 2026.
Tesla launched FSD (Supervised) in Australia and New Zealand in September 2025, when it cost A$10,100 ($7,100) outright in Australia. Since April 2026, new Australian buyers can only take it as a monthly subscription.
In New Zealand, FSD (Supervised) cost NZ$11,400 ($6,500) outright at launch, with a NZ$159 ($90) monthly subscription announced at the time as coming soon.
In its first year in the two countries, cars using the software crashed 40% less often per kilometer than Teslas driven manually, according to figures Tesla published last month.
The Model 3 and Model Y are now the only vehicles Tesla sells in Australia.
Those two models are selling well. Tesla delivered 5,654 vehicles in Australia in September, up 21.3% from a year earlier, and 41,705 in the first nine months of 2026, up 84.1%, according to Electric Vehicle Council data.
Deposits to Be Refunded
“Later today, you’ll receive a separate email with refund details,” Tesla told holders. “Once you have confirmed those details, we’ll process your refund within 30 days.”
Australian buyers paid deposits of A$150 ($105) after Tesla opened local reservations in November 2019, days after the Cybertruck was unveiled in Los Angeles.
Tesla closed the local order page in 2022 without automatically refunding deposits, leaving existing reservations in place.
Tesla has never said how many Australians reserved the truck.
Musk said on Twitter, now X, in November 2019 that global orders had reached 200,000 within days of the unveiling. Tesla then priced the truck from $39,900 in the US and said production would begin in late 2021.
Production began in 2023, two years later than planned, and the dual-motor version now costs $79,990 in the US.
A Plan That Stalled
Tesla brought an evaluation Cybertruck to Australia in 2024 for a national tour, which revived expectations of a local launch.
In March 2025, Thom Drew, Tesla’s Country Director for Australia and New Zealand, said he was “personally confident” the truck would come.
A month later, he said concerns about whether the truck could meet local rules were largely “unfounded.”
“I am not confident it’s coming, but we are discussing it,” he told EV Central at the time, describing the business case rather than compliance as the bigger obstacle. “It’s certainly not a done deal just yet.”
The Cybertruck is built only in left-hand drive, and Australia and New Zealand would have required a right-hand-drive version for what would have been a small market.
Elon Musk said at Tesla’s 2024 shareholder meeting that “we did design the car to North American requirements” and that the company “might be able to certify it for other markets sometime next year.”
He said Tesla would “need to make a special version that is, for example, China compliant or Europe compliant.”
Where the Cybertruck Is Sold
Outside North America, the Cybertruck is sold only in South Korea, where deliveries began on November 27, 2025, and in the Middle East.
Tesla began selling the truck in Qatar in October 2025, and started deliveries in the United Arab Emirates in January 2026, with orders also opened in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel. Tesla chose those markets partly because they allow the truck without major modifications, according to Electrek.
It is still not approved in the European Union, and Tesla has not announced a version for China.
Tesla does not report Cybertruck sales separately. Its “other models” category, which includes the truck, delivered 8,295 vehicles in the third quarter, down 47.9% from 15,933 a year earlier.
US sales fell to an estimated 20,237 in 2025 from 38,965 in 2024, according to Cox Automotive estimates, far below the 250,000 a year Musk once forecast.
US sales dropped to 3,519 in the first quarter of 2026, the lowest since deliveries began in November 2023, according to Cox.
In January, Musk said Tesla would “transition the Cybertruck line to just a fully autonomous line.”
In North America, the Cybertruck competes with the Ford F-150 Lightning, General Motors‘ Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV and GMC Hummer EV and the Rivian R1T. No comparable large electric pickup is on sale in Australia.
Tesla said this week it aims to deliver its first Cybercab to customers by the end of the year, and earlier this month it unveiled a new Roadster with production set for 2028. It has not said whether either will be sold in Australia or New Zealand.
Tesla reported third-quarter results on Wednesday.
