Cybertruck: Welcome to the Biggest Flops Hall of Fame As Voted By 2.5M

It was supposed to be the game-changer. When Tesla’s Cybertruck first stunned the world in 2019, over 2.5 million people rushed to put down deposits on the angular, stainless-steel beast. Elon Musk’s vision was for hundreds of thousands to roll off the line yearly. And yet, just two years after launch, the cold truth is in: Cybertruck sales tally less than 16,000 in 2025. Production dreams of 250,000 units a year fizzled into an industry punchline, as quarterly sales have plummeted by 62 percent since last year.

What went wrong? Start with sticker shock. That legendary $39,900 base price Musk pitched at reveal? Vapor. The real deal starts at $80,000, and any Foundation Series or options quickly rocket it higher. For that money, buyers expected not just offbeat looks but ironclad engineering and the vaunted 500-mile range. Instead, they got quality recalls, odd glitches, and a real-world range less than half of what was promised.

It didn’t help that long-awaited production was hounded by stories of falling panels, sticky accelerator pedals, and windshield wipers that seemed allergic to rain. And while Tesla’s other vehicles broke ground on EV design and performance, the Cybertruck was let’s be honest, polarizing. Pickup veterans and newcomers didn’t line up; most buyers who got on the waitlist, got off fast. The accepted wisdom in the auto world is if you want lasting appeal, you can’t just build for internet memes.

It’s not only fan talk. The numbers are brutal. Of those 2.5 million preorders, less than five percent became actual sales. Tesla, never shy with superlatives, now keeps the Cybertruck’s exact numbers off the books, lumping it in with slow-selling older models.

In the halls of product flops, Cybertruck now stands shoulder to shoulder with legendary flameouts: Ford’s Edsel, Apple’s Lisa, Microsoft’s Zune, and New Coke. Each promised too much and delivered too little, haunted by sky-high expectations, chaotic marketing or, in Tesla’s case, a founder more divisive than ever.

Critics call it “deeply silly.” Owners have to deal with vandalism, panel gaps, and a singular amount of side-eye. And in the end, the Cybertruck’s biggest problem isn’t just what it is but what it isn’t: the mass-market revolution Musk promised.

The Cybertruck isn’t the first flop with a wild fanbase, but it may be the most entertaining in a generation a meme on wheels, a lesson for the ages, and the rare Silicon Valley story where the hype crashed harder than anything ever built on four wheels.