Elon Musk on Monday rejected claims that Tesla’s Cybertruck is unprofitable even as he said that the company will be shutting the production line in about eight months.
In a post on X, Musk said the Cybertruck order rate “far exceeds our production rate.”
Tesla TSLA will try to build as many as possible before shutting the line in about eight months, he said.
He also added that the company will still have to return deposits to many customers.
‘Cybertruck not loss-making’
Musk had announced on Friday that it will start winding down production of Tesla’s Cybertruck at its Gigafactory in Texas around the middle of next year.
On Monday, he countered reports that said the decision was being taken due to poor sales of the polarizing pickup.
“This is not a case of Cybertruck being unprofitable, as has been misreported by legacy media, but rather that the opportunity cost of the complexity of Cybertruck is vastly outweighed by the value of incremental Cybercab production,” Musk wrote on X.
The move is intended to free up manufacturing space for the Cybercab, the two-seat autonomous vehicle Musk has positioned as central to Tesla’s future.
“We are still building Cybertruck for another 8 or 9 months,” Musk said in the earlier post, “but then Tesla needs to focus on scaling Cybercab.”
When asked by an X user why not increase the factory capacity instead of shutting down production, Musk replied that it was “insanely hard to build a high-volume factory.”
Sales continue to lag
The Cybertruck, with its distinctive stainless-steel angular design, has been one of Musk’s highest-profile projects. Deliveries began in late 2023 after years of delays.
Sales have lagged early expectations, and the vehicle has faced regulatory hurdles in some markets.
According to data cited by Reuters, Tesla sold 20,237 Cybertrucks in the US last year, down 48% from 38,965 in 2024. The numbers lag far behind Musk’s annual sales prediction of 250,000 units.
Safety experts also believe that it would be hard for the vehicle to gain approval for sale in Europe, as its sharp angular design could go against the rules concerning pedestrian impact.
Tesla, SpaceX shares hit
Musk’s latest defense of the truck comes at the end of a difficult week.
Democrats gained control of both chambers of Congress in last week’s midterm elections, a result that delivered a setback to Musk, one of the Republican Party’s largest individual donors.
Tesla shares dropped more than 10% in one session amid the broader post-election sell-off before partially recovering later in the week.
Shares of SpaceX too fell sharply before recovering in the days after the vote as investors weighed the prospect of increased regulatory scrutiny of Musk’s companies and AI ambitions.
Tesla and SpaceX were both up in the premarket trading on Monday.
Tesla has not provided detailed public figures on Cybertruck profitability. The company has said it will prioritize higher-volume, higher-priority programs as it accelerates its push into autonomy and robotics.
AI disclosure: AI tools assisted with research and drafting of this piece. An Invezz editor reviewed the facts, sources and wording before publication. Any opinions or analysis are Invezz’s, not those of an automated system.
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