Tesla kills the Cybertruck: Musk shifts Texas plant to robotaxis

Tesla will end production of the Cybertruck in 2027 and convert its Texas factory to build the Cybercab robotaxi, CEO Elon Musk announced on X on Friday. The discontinuation closes a controversial chapter that began with deliveries in late 2023 and roughly 70,600 U.S. sales in two and a half years.

Musk once called the Cybertruck Tesla's "best ever" product. On Friday, the official Cybertruck X account posted a video of the vehicle driving into the sunset, while Musk confirmed the truck would be discontinued next year. In mid-2027, Tesla plans to retool the Texas production lines to boost Cybercab output, Musk said.

Why did the Cybertruck fail?

Demand never matched the early hype. The truck drew about 2 million reservations on a crowd-sourced tracker, even as its launch slipped from 2021 to late 2023. Those orders never converted, undone by high prices and a string of high-profile recalls.

At the 2019 unveiling, Musk promised prices between $39,900 and $69,900. In 2026, the cheapest model retails for over $80,000, and the "Cyberbeast" starts above $102,000. The vehicle also struggled in international markets, including the European Union and Australia.

Cox Automotive counts about 59,000 U.S. sales across 2024 and 2025, plus 11,586 deliveries in the first nine months of 2026 — a 28% decline from the same period in 2025.

Jessica Caldwell, head of insights at Edmunds, told MarketWatch that the stainless-steel design never appealed to typical pickup buyers, who value function over form. The truck read as a status symbol instead. She also flagged concerns about repairs and running costs.

The electric-pickup segment itself has stayed small, despite Americans' appetite for gas-powered trucks.

What does the pivot signal?

Tesla is redirecting capital toward autonomy and robotics. A few months ago, the company stopped building the Model S and Model X in Fremont, California, and repurposed that capacity for the Optimus humanoid robot.

"Musk is focused on robotics and the robotaxi era," Dan Ives, an analyst at Yorkville Ives, told MarketWatch over email. "The writing was on the wall given [the Cybertruck's] high price points and demand that has been subpar."

Seth Goldstein, an analyst at Morningstar, called the decision sensible. The Texas plant can build 125,000 Cybertrucks a year, capacity that now shifts to the Cybercab — a gold-toned two-seater without a steering wheel or pedals, currently on the road only in Austin and Fort Worth. Tesla aims to start selling it to the public by the end of the year. The freed capacity also helps Tesla manage spending, which is set to hit a record this year.

"I think here we see Musk as a shrewd capital allocator, as someone who's willing to walk away from an idea that he really liked on a personal level if the financials aren't making sense," Goldstein told MarketWatch.

What happens to owners and the stock?

Tesla will keep supporting existing trucks. Wes Morrill, the Cybertruck's lead engineer, said on X that Tesla will maintain a supply of spare parts, and Musk wrote that the fleet "will be around for a long time."

"Cybertruck was an incredible technology development platform and lives on through Cybercab," Morrill wrote.

Investor Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, read the news more darkly. He said Musk is "dismantling the car business as the main driver" of Tesla's future, and added: "The symbolic failure of the Cybertruck is really indicative of Elon's overall failure at Tesla over the last five years." He pointed to Tesla's stock lagging the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 this year.

The market liked the pivot. Tesla shares rose 5% on Friday after a bruising session Thursday, when the stock had erased more than $200 billion in market capitalization over two days.

One notable buyer loses a supplier: SpaceX disclosed in a filing that it purchased $131 million worth of Cybertrucks at Tesla's suggested retail price in 2025. The two companies, which are exploring a merger, combined for a $456 billion two-day wipeout amid investor concern that a "less friendly Congress" after the midterms — a cycle in which Musk gave over $400 million to Republican-aligned PACs — makes that merger process "messier," in the words of Aptus Capital Advisors portfolio manager David Wagner.

After the Cybertruck exits, Tesla's lineup narrows to the Model Y, the Model 3 and the Semi — a bet that robotaxis, not pickup trucks, now define the company's next decade.