Tesla is to end production of the Cybertruck about three years after deliveries began, the company said.

Production of the iconic steel-bodied electric truck, once thought to have the potential to tap into the significant market for pickup trucks, will end in about eight months, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said in a social media post.

He said the company was making room to produce more Cybercab autonomous taxis, and would fill as many Cybertruck orders as possible, but would “have to return deposits for a lot of people”.

Multiple recalls

The Cybercab was launched in 2019 at an event in which Musk threw a metal ball at the window of a prototype truck in order to demonstrate its durability, only to see the glass shatter.

The first vehicles were only delivered to buyers in late 2023, after multiple delays, and quality shortcomings quickly became apparent.

The vehicle went through several recalls, including one last year that affected 46,000 Cybertrucks over concerns that parts of their trim could fall off, increasing the risk of a crash.

In May, a Texas driver was arrested after he allegedly drove his Cybertruck into a lake near Dallas, telling police later that he wanted to test its “Wade Mode” feature.

The Cybertruck received one million pre-orders ahead of the first deliveries, Tesla claimed, but industry experts estimate that a total of only about 71,000 of the vehicles have been delivered since November 2023.

Many of those deliveries were made to other companies under Musk’s control, including SpaceX, which bought $131 million (£97.4m) of Cybertrucks in 2025, according to its S-1 pre-IPO registration statement.

Musk has defended the Cybertruck, saying in March that it is “way more awesome than people realise”.