Elon Musk wants to clear something up about the Cybertruck: Tesla isn’t ending it because it loses money. “This is not a case of Cybertruck being unprofitable, as has been misreported by legacy media,” Musk wrote on X.
Instead, he said the opportunity cost of the Cybertruck’s complexity “is vastly outweighed by the value of incremental Cybercab production.”
More Orders Than Tesla Can Build
Musk also said that “the Cybertruck order rate far exceeds our production rate.” Tesla will build as many trucks as it can before the line shuts down in about eight months, but it “will have to return deposits for a lot of people.”
That matches what Musk said a few days ago, when he announced Tesla would add an extra Cybertruck shift to work through the backlog before the line is torn down around June or July. Tesla also recently raised Cybertruck prices by up to 9% and paused new orders for the base Dual Motor AWD trim, likely because it can’t fill the orders it already has.
Why Not Just Build Another Factory?
When X user Owen Sparks (@OwenSparks) asked why Tesla doesn’t just build more factory space, Musk replied that building a high-volume factory is extremely difficult, adding that “prototypes are trivial by comparison.”
Earlier, he explained that Tesla has a limited number of skilled engineers, and keeping the Cybertruck going means tying up people, factory space, and equipment that could be scaling Cybercab production instead.
Building factories is hard, but Tesla has done it before. It’s built plants in California, Nevada, Texas, Shanghai, and Berlin. The bigger issue is likely whether a new factory or a separate line would be worth it for a low-volume vehicle like the Cybertruck.
Sales Tell Part of the Story
Even if there’s a backlog now, Cybertruck sales haven’t been strong. Tesla doesn’t break out Cybertruck numbers, but in Q3 2026, it delivered just 8,295 vehicles in its “Other Models” category, compared to 478,237 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. That category now covers the Cybertruck, the Semi, and any leftover Model S and Model X inventory, and it was down 48% from 15,933 a year earlier.
Much of today’s backlog likely comes from Dual Motor AWD buyers who ordered the truck at $59,990 back in February, before Tesla raised the price.
So the Cybertruck may be profitable, but at roughly a few thousand units per quarter, it isn’t worth the factory space Tesla wants for the Cybercab, which Tesla is betting can be built far faster and in much larger numbers. Existing Cybertruck owners will still get parts and service after production ends. For anyone still waiting on an order, the next eight months will decide whether they get a truck or a refund.
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