The Cybertruck was supposed to make the F-150 obsolete. It wasn’t supposed to be boring, like a Ford or a Chevy. It was supposed to be “more truck than truck.” It turns out, people just wanted trucks that were trucks, and CEO Elon Musk announced on X earlier this morning is that the Cybertruck is dying.
I’m struck by this quote from the Cybertruck’s second unveiling in 2019, from Musk: “Trucks have been the same for a very long time, for basically 100 years.” It was meant as an insult. He then showed the front of a Ram 1500, a Ford F-150, and a Chevy Silverado with the badges off and said it was “hard to tell which is which.” That’s absolutely not true, and it turns out that in 100 years of making trucks, traditional truckmakers gained a decent sense of the market.
It’s going to be hard to write a eulogy for a vehicle whose meaning grew well beyond the actual truck itself. The Cybertruck, perversely, is this generation’s Hummer; an over-the-top expression of a particular worldview pregnant with so much cultural meaning that it’s impossible to see it through any lens than your own personal politics.
The jokes are already being made on X, with one poster requoting Musk by saying: “blue wave so big even the cybertruck got canceled.” The timing makes this kind of humor unavoidable, though it’s not entirely untrue. There’s a certain type of Silicon Valley psychosis that saw a quirk in electoral vote allocation as a dramatic shift in popular thought. The same people who believed online accounts with Roman bust avatars and ChatGPT-fueled misinterpretations of Thomas Hobbes were the new great philosophers embraced the Cybertruck.
If those are your politics, the Cybertruck, then, very much typifies a creatine-poisoned mindset. It would be comforting for a lot people to see the failure of the Cybertruck as the death of this whole era, supported by a dramatic legislative (and in Tesla’s home state, executive) shift. What this ignores is that basically no one has made electric trucks successful.
Elon Musk sold the Cybertruck as a vehicle that would be resistant to bullets, when really what he built was a truck that deflected objectivity. A sober, rational, completely neutral analysis would probably show that the Cybertruck is the best electric truck ever made. That, of course, is essentially impossible.
Tesla was clearly deluded when it thought it could sell 250,000 Cybertrucks in a year. In its best year, the Cybertruck couldn’t crack 50,000 sales, and it’ll be lucky to do half of that this year. It’s the rare example of the company, which popularized electric cars, getting high on its own supply.
It’s easy to say that the Cybertruck’s polarizing appearance or bro-ish, conservative aura killed the vehicle, but I think you could easily argue the opposite. Perhaps the in-your-face, high-T bravado is what helped it find any buyers at all. As a bit of a control group, look at the Ford F-150 Lightning. That truck was essentially an F-150 with an EV powertrain shoved in it. While it often outsold the Cybertruck, it barely did so, and not at any kind of volume that could support continued production.
In our first review of the vehicle, David pointed out that, while compromised, the truck was actually great:
It is a vehicle with a clearly-defined soul, and that, especially to car enthusiasts, is worth admiring. It did not succumb to the dreaded “death by a thousand cuts,” even if it will leave your forearm with a couple. It stands proudly with all of its flaws so that it can be what it set out to be: a Cybertruck.
And overall, it really is a compelling machine. I know I just spent this entire article talking about compromises (and I didn’t mention them all; the visor mirrors are hilariously tiny/useless, the automatic emergency braking is too aggressive, etc), but there are so many positive attributes worth mentioning, too. Obviously, there’s the ~600 horsepower that rockets the 6,600-pound vehicle from zero to 60 mph in about four seconds; the thing is quick.
But more surprising than that is the ride quality, which is simply phenomenal for a truck on 35-inch tires. The truck is quiet and rides like a magic carpet even over speed bumps; honestly, I can’t think of a vehicle that dispatches speed bumps as well as the Tesla Cybertruck — it’s remarkable.
Tesla and SpaceX lost nearly half a trillion dollars in value this week, as the hype around data centers and anything AI-related ran into the reality that these industries were likely to face some scrutiny, and it’s possible that this sudden midnight announcement from Musk is connected. My knock against the company has always been that Musk doesn’t want it to be a car company, but selling cars is still how Tesla makes money.
All of that capacity in Tesla’s Texas plant will have to be used for something and, according to Musk, it’ll be the Cybercab. Whether or not the Cybercab is another product for a market that doesn’t exist is another question, and one that only time will answer.
For all of Musk’s maybe playful shots at the F-150, the strangest outcome of all is that Ford has built a Tesla-inspired arm of the company to build EVs, and that vehicle’s first product will be the sub-$30,000 Ford Fathom. While Tesla made a big deal of rejecting what makes trucks like the F-150 so popular, Ford is embracing the efficiency and engineering advances that continue to make Teslas the best-selling electric cars not from a Chinese company.
Top photo: Ford/Tesla
Huge victory for anyone with functioning eyeballs
I always thought the Cybertruck was just Elon trolling the public, and maybe legacy automakers to prove styling doesn’t matter, and to reinforce the blind obsession people have with anything Tesla.
Like hey, let’s make something that is as ugly as it possibly can be, but lets throw some interesting tech at it. Guaranteed, people will still buy it and say it’s the greatest thing ever, and they will bow down and kiss my feet for a chance to own one.
That makes 3 and a half years which means it beat the Edsel by a year since it lasted barely over two (all 1960 Edsels were built in calendar 1959).
Mic drop.
Elon basically said “You know the best and second best selling vehicle in the US, yeah, nobody wants those.”
Moreso than the Fisker Karma or even the Delorean DMC, the Cybertruck was just too.damn.weird to be a production vehicle. Normal companies unveil a crazy concept vehicle to generate a bunch of hype, then translate that (or sometimes water-down) to a more marketable vehicle in a year or two. I thought the original design was a ridiculous ketamine-fueled fever dream, and I never expected it to be actually made. A lot of social events and the environment at the time both contributed to and detracted from Cybertruck sales. Maybe the F150 Lightning was too tame, but the Cybertruck was somebody else’s project.
I now want to buy an F150. See what you did?
Enablerpian
The Cybertruck is more of a lifestyle statement vehicle than a “truck”. Your comparison to when they were selling H1 Hummers to the public is quite spot on, even if the functionality of the vehicles is almost polar opposite. The H1 was highly capable, but ride quality was rough. The Tesla supposedly is comfortable, with poor offroad capability.
Cybertrucks look SO much better with a colorful wrap.
A colorful wrap, yes. I recently passed one with a plain white wrap, and unholy deity that was awful. You’re going to drop coin to try to make it as boring as possible? If the intent was to deflect attention it didn’t work, because I’m now accustomed to seeing the ModernTriangleRefrigerators rolling around, but the 80s90sTriangle Refrigerator was more out-standing than stock.
My child mentioned that the brightly-colored Cybertrucks resemble Lego bricks. That brought me some joy. I agree that white on a Cybertruck is much too refrigerator-like.
I saw one in a red, once. It was a CT I enjoyed looking at, at least briefly. Likewise one in a dark forest green.
I agree. The red and dark green look very good to me. The yellow and bright blue look cheerful, but not as good as those. All are 200% better than dull, unpainted stainless steel.
I’d be interested to see one wrapped in a Fender Antigua finish. It’s kind of a hyper-harvest gold in a way, and could be either hilarious or actually good.
Interesting concept. That might soften the visual harshness of the folded edges.
Interesting. I was thinking (I think) the opposite, reducing the effect of the individual panels by having each plane have the airbrushed edge, uniting the panels withing that plane. And the two bodyside creases then get the airbrush to frame the planes above and below.
I believe we are both right that it would look less creased at first glance. I’d love to see someone try that coloration.
gods I saw a 2 tone wrap black above white below. Just takes ugly to new heights(lows?)
Black above white? Oy.
I was looking at my neighbors black over white 1959 Thunderbird, and then thought back on the 2026 Autopian tee-shirt with the Citron and Bugatti with black over a white color. I’m wondering why that isn’t a current style for breaking up the slab-sided look of current SUVs.
They have done it with clunky plastic cladding, why not also try it with a little bit of paint?
They could have at least given it ludicrously fake looking wood accents, like the 70s fridge in our basement.
There is so much you could do with a wrap on the vehicle, between the huge flat panels and their shapes. It’s a creativity blank slate, no need to work with odd creases and rub strips, only the panel boundaries. I guess creativity and individualism are not part of the buyer demographic.
Oh damn. Harvest gold and Avocado Green wraps and then they will be
And yet, a lot of trucks are “lifestyle statement vehicles” already.
Let me stance out my Silverado on low-profile mud tires, plastered with flags/political-hot-takes/calvin-pissing, and put a large loud exhaust on it while I complain of not being able to afford fuel.
So sad, but true.
This sentence makes me glad I avoid all social media. I have no idea what this means. Please don’t tell me what it means or try to explain. I’m quite happy not knowing.
What a strange world.
Ditto
I wish I didn’t know.
Good riddance, Cybertrash.
It occurred today that with the imminent Slate truck official release, and given its 10 percent Bezos share, and given that it’s extremely likely that businesses all over the US will see fit to buy them, get nifty wraps that feature the business’ logo and website and such, and people will see them and maybe want to get one of those cute things themselves?
Elon will have gotten out-billionaired.
(yes, none of the above assumptions are guaranteed to happen but I think there’s a pretty good chance. A reasonably safe bet. Far safer than TSLA stock, that’s for damnsure.)
Oh, and Bezos can go kick rocks too, but he’s only 10 percent as evil as Elmo.
Ugh I can see the Slates with the damn AI Franchise Business wraps in my mind already and I hate it.
I was thinking more auto parts and pizza delivery wraps, myself. But sure, you’ll have office giggers wrapping them, I suppose.
I was thinking tradespeople; huge number of businesses in my area for HVAC, Fencing, etc that all have AI generated wraps with very similar features
Be os isn’t as flippant as Elmo, but I doubt he is any better at the end of the day.
He’s only better because he’s “poorer.”
I would love to see one in total 1960’s hippie regalia, including beads hanging somewhere and a fake exhaust reeking of weed.
The only reason it even stayed in production this long was purely to save face, the longer they delayed a cancelation, the longer they could go without officially admitting failure.
I didn’t like the truck for all the obvious reasons, but the typical Tesla/Musk over-the-top promises is what made me really hate the Cybertruck, which wasn’t really the fault of the vehicle at all. If Tesla/Musk had modest, achievable sales targets, and didn’t make wild product claims like being bulletproof, I probably wouldn’t have minded the Cybertruck’s existence. But of course, that unsubstantiated bravado is baked in to the DNA of Cybertruck, so you can’t have one without the other.
GOOD RIDDANCE
Bye Felicia
I’d rather drive a Felicia than a Cybertruck. Especially a Felicia Fun.
I look forward to buying one of these (albeit recycled into a refrigerator) in a few years.
The battery and drive units might make for some interesting EV conversions.
See what Badger is doing with them in a garage in Wisconsin.
I found Hoffman EV’s “Badger” skateboard/van which is based on M3/Y components, that’s really cool and looks to be right up Torch’s alley.
https://www.hoffmanev.com/chassis
I never hated the car itself, but Musk’s descent into crazyness is impossible to ignore. He pulled a reverse KDF wagen with this car, so I’m glad it failed.
I would say that I hope this serves as a lesson to keep business and politics separated, but maybe it is good to know which business to boycott.
Funny you should mention that particular car since I’ve said all along that Musk should’ve taken the ’70s retrofuturism to it’s logical conclusion and constrained the Cybertruck’s footprint to the feasible limit of a kit car built on a Beetle pan.
The small size would’ve killed the douchebag appeal and imposed design limits like the peaked roof being out.
Speaking of KdF wagens…I want to by a VW just so I can put a “I bought this before he went crazy” on it…
I’ll believe it when it comes to pass. I hope this is true, but, anything Musk promises ‘down the road’ is usually just a ploy to make some money right now. Perhaps he thinks this will spur some sales before the end of the year?
Cyber truck was alot of broken promises. It might have been the most hyped vehicle of all time. It never delivered. People even in places that proclaim their hate for all things musk and musk adjacent still were buying model y and model 3. If Cyber truck had met or come close to its promised price it might be different. But it just got more expensive and not as good as promised. We have a strange situation with EVs that Tesla has what appears to be one of the most if not the most capable systems on the American market but certainly not the best globally. Along with serious questions arond lack of sensors and logic. They are able to get protection from the government to shield them from the real competition.
I love Elon Ls. Music to my ears.
As a motorcyclist, I’m very conscious of the aerodynamics of other vehicles. Being behind a tractor trailer sucks. You get kicked around by the turbulence like a sock in a clothes dryer. Most pickup trucks are also pretty bad. But the air coming off a Cybertruck is completely smooth. You wouldn’t think it from all the sharp edges, but it is very aerodynamic. Better than most cars.
When Starship HLS lands on the moon, half the population is going to brush off all the accomplishment and hard work of thousands of people because they don’t like the guy at the head of the company. That makes me sad.
If the head of the company would stick to heading the company rather than expending so much effort into being one of the world’s biggest narcissists and damaging our democracy for his financial gain, this wouldn’t be a problem. That’s entirely on Musk.
I wouldn’t brush of those very consequential concerns as people simply not liking the guy.
This. So much this.
Elon may be a genius in some ways but as a CEO you stay out of politics as a partisan exercise.
Tim Cook from Apple I think handled things correctly. He has gone and dealt with Trump and Biden and Trump and Obama as the CEO of a huge company without ever letting his personal politics come into play. What is good for Apple being the reason he is there.
The CT does share that slippery fish/limpet shape with most other EVs and hybrids. And Gwynne Shotwell is very good at her job, part of which is keeping Elon away from anything safety-critical.
The board should do their job and fire the guy then.
And I will be one of those people because landing on the moon was accomplished nearly 60 years ago. We did that a few times, even brought an EV to drive around and whacked a few golf balls. Even the Soviets had rockets that could reach the moon.
And we found there wasn’t much reason too go back.
If the Cybertruck were not the rolling embodiment of Elon Musk, I’d be sorry to hear this news. But since it is, I’m not sorry it will be cancelled, I’m glad they sold so few, and I’m hoping they have poor long term durability so the ones on the road don’t stay there for too long.
This vehicle is Elon on Wheels. It’s deliberately provocative, and the man whom it channels is a genuinely terrible human being, so when I see it I don’t think of anything optimistic and playful or forward-thinking, I simply see Elon’s dead eyes and pouchy smirk as he plots how to f*ck up the country further for his own gain. Tesla makes a few great vehicles (3 and Y) and I wouldn’t refuse to buy one of those just to spite Musk. But I don’t want the one model that looks like his id.
Should’ve made it a normal-shaped truck. Tesla is well-established and people have confidence it will stick around. I imaging this would have done well if it were styled more like the Rivian.
If I can completely separate it from politics, I actually kind of like the CT in theory. I have no desire to own or drive one, but I like bizarre/terrible cars and it’s mentally kind of refreshing to see something that looks so ridiculous in the middle of a sea of bland crossovers.
I do think history will be kind to it and can even envision them being somewhat collectible in a couple decades, but it is hard to deny that this was a massive missed opportunity by Tesla. Had they gone more conventional, they would’ve been the first with a mass-market EV truck and it likely would’ve been a huge success. Instead it became a vanity project that was doomed from the very start.
I get that you guys want to stand behind your past work, and each other, but calling that review “sober, rational, [and] completely neutral,” then lifting a quote from it that praises the Cybertruck for its “soul,” which is a completely subjective, unquantifiable metric that existed only in David’s imagination…shows that you guys didn’t really absorb why there was such a virulent response to that piece.
If you can argue that the Cybertruck is the best because of its “soul,” and I can argue that that “soul” is rotted and ugly, we’re not going to get anywhere, are we? David went on to enumerate all the ways the CT was objectively bad (and compromised, countering his argument that the “soul” came from a no-compromises approach to design) at being a useful truck, so what about it was the best? This horse is just going in circles, it’s not the one to stand behind.
I seem to remember David cutting the shit out of his hand on the bed. If it has a soul, he fed it with his blood.
Perhaps David with neither sober or rational when writing up that tome? That would explain that and his foray into rusty Jeeps.
I’m pretty sure they sold all of those here in Texas because I see one every 5 minutes. It sucks it didn’t make it though. It’s refreshing to see something different in traffic from the normal homogeneous blobs. I guess you can be visually polarizing and you can be politically polarizing but you can’t be both.
Don’t count out SW Florida. We got the rest of them. The salt air has an “interesting” effect on stainless steel.