It’s the plot twist no one at Tesla wants to talk about. Slick stainless steel pickups gather dust behind chain link fences, their fate still uncertain months after supposed "hotcake" launches. Right now, Tesla is holding more than 10,000 Cybertrucks in inventory, with values frozen around $800 million. Outlets tracking the electric truck market say that after recalls, waning hype, and some embarrassing technical snafus, there’s just not enough demand to match ambitious production targets.
Sales for the Cybertruck have nosedived. Tesla dreamed of selling a quarter-million trucks per year, but real numbers are crashing toward 20,000 less than a tenth of the goal. The company has tried desperate discounts and new rear-drive models, but the parked trucks aren’t going anywhere fast.
The situation’s so dire, Elon Musk is using family businesses to soak up inventory, delivering hundreds to SpaceX and xAI. Even with creative bookkeeping, buyers just aren’t signing on for Tesla’s angular hauler. Dealers hesitate, used prices drop week after week, and reports swirl about Tesla refusing its own trucks as trade-ins. A year ago these were supposed to be the face of the future. Now they’re the symbol of an overreach ... a truck that won’t leave the lot.