Some people who put down a deposit on a Cybertruck may never get one. Elon Musk now says Tesla will hand back deposits to “a lot of people” because the factory line will close before every order can be built. For a truck that has struggled to find buyers for most of its life, that is a strange way to say goodbye.
The same day brought a very different headline for Tesla. Its Robotaxi service launched in San Antonio on Nov. 9, adding another Texas city to a network the company sees as its future. One product is on its way out, and the other is getting the factory space it leaves behind.
Elon Musk says demand is not the problem
Musk laid out his view in a short post. “The Cybertruck order rate far exceeds our production rate. We will try to make as many as possible before shutting down the line in about 8 months, but will have to return deposits for a lot of people,” he wrote in a post on X.
Also read: Elon Musk issues strong warning for investors heading into 2027
He also pushed back on the idea that the truck is being dropped because it loses money. Musk said the “opportunity cost of the complexity of Cybertruck is vastly outweighed by the value of incremental Cybercab production,” according to CBS News. Neither Musk nor Tesla said how many deposits will be returned or how much money is involved.
The refund news follows a busy week. On Nov. 5, Musk said Tesla would wind down Cybertruck production at Gigafactory Texas around the middle of next year to make room for more Cybercab output, calling it the “end of an era.”
A day later, he said the backlog was “far more than we can make before dismantling the line for Cybercab expansion” and that Tesla would “add an extra shift to try to get all orders done in time,” in a separate post on X. Tesla does not publish order figures, so there is no outside way to check how large that backlog really is.
The sales record tells a different story
The Cybertruck once looked like a sure hit. It drew more than 1 million reservations, yet recall data showed only about 46,000 trucks delivered in roughly its first year on sale, as reported by TheStreet. Musk had also promised a starting price of $39,900, a figure the truck never came close to once it actually reached buyers.
Things got worse from there. Kelley Blue Book estimates put U.S. Cybertruck sales at 20,237 last year, down 48% from 2024. That was a small fraction of the 250,000 trucks a year Musk once projected for the model.
Tesla does not break out sales by model, so outside estimates remain the best guide to how the truck is doing, and they do not point to a sudden surge in buyers.
Some analysts were not surprised by the end. Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities said it had been “an uphill battle for sales,” but that ending the Cybertruck frees Musk to focus on robotics and robotaxis, CBS News reported.
Tesla does not break out sales by model, so outside estimates remain the best guide to how the truck is doing, and they do not point to a sudden surge in buyers.
Robotaxi pulls up in San Antonio
While the truck winds down, Tesla’s driverless push keeps moving. Rides in San Antonio began at 5 a.m. Central Time. San Antonio is the eighth U.S. city with the service.
Tesla shared few details about the rollout. The company did not say what hours the service runs, whether it uses the two-seat Cybercab or modified Model Y vehicles, or whether safety monitors ride along, as reported by TechCrunch. Past launches began with a small fleet and a tight service area before gradually expanding, and Alphabet’s Waymo already offers rides in the city.
The network is still uneven from city to city. Austin, where Tesla started in June 2025, has more than 400 registered autonomous vehicles, while Fort Worth has 24 and Miami has five. The network also logged fewer paid-customer miles in the second quarter than in the first.
More Tesla:
- Tesla stock sellers should pump their brakes, 5-star analyst says
- Bank of America resets Tesla forecast as Robotaxi miles double
- Tesla wants to sell a car with no steering wheel this year
The Cybercab itself is only starting out. The two-seat vehicle entered production earlier this year, and paid rides began in September with a small fleet in Austin, according to Fox Business. Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill wrote that the truck “lives on through Cybercab,” underscoring how closely Tesla ties the two together.
What Tesla investors are watching next
The robotaxi bet is not cheap. Tesla raised its 2026 capital spending plan to more than $25 billion. Texas had 463 Cybercabs registered as of late October, Electrek reported. Finance chief Vaibhav Taneja called the spending “the right strategic approach to position the company for its next era.”
The stock has not rewarded that patience yet. Tesla shares are down more than 20% so far in 2026, the worst showing among the Magnificent Seven.
For owners, Musk has offered some reassurance. “The Cybertruck fleet will be around for a long time,” he said. The bigger test is whether Cybercab can grow fast enough to justify the space the truck is giving up, and whether customers who get their deposits back stay with Tesla at all.
Related: Elon Musk sends a strong signal to SpaceX stock investors
