Cybertruck: shunned and mocked, Elon Musk buys them en masse to hide the disaster
Dozens of Cybertrucks arrived at Starbase, where teams were actively preparing for Flight 11 and setting up Launch Pad 2 for the future version of Starship. © NASASpaceflight
Convoys of Cybertrucks have been seen in recent days in front of the SpaceX facilities at Starbase (during preparing for Starship Flight 11) and in the xAI premises. This unusual accumulation of vehicles reflects a very uncomfortable reality for Tesla: its futuristic pickup truck, which was to revolutionize the market, struggling to find takers. Elon Musk’s private companies are now absorbing a significant portion of a thickening stock.
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Tesla produces 250,000 Cybertrucks per year and only sells 20,000
The numbers speak for themselves. Tesla had envisaged an annual production capacity exceeding 250,000 units. The current reality is around 20,000 vehicles sold per year, i.e. an industrial tool utilization rate close to 10%. This situation constitutes an economic nightmare for any automobile manufacturer, transforming most of the investments made into irremediably lost costs. Even by drastically slowing down production, Tesla finds itself confronted with recurring accumulations of unsold items.
A providential fleet renewal strategy
Wes Morrill, chief engineer of the Cybertruck project, commented on these massive deliveries by discussing the replacement of fleets of thermally powered support vehicles with Cybertrucks, both at Tesla and SpaceX. “When we were designing it, it was always part of the dream”he said, without specifying the exact number of vehicles ordered by SpaceX.
The images of these rows of angular pickups at Starbase do indeed have a spectacular, almost advertising dimension.
The timing of these orders is challenging. The deliveries come at a time when the fourth quarter was expected to be difficult, with the prospect of the elimination of the overseas tax credit having anticipated numerous purchases. However, a provision made it possible to maintain the tax advantage for firm orders placed before the end of September, even delivered in the fourth quarter.
The thousands of Cybertrucks ordered by Elon Musk’s companies could thus conveniently inflate Tesla’s delivery statistics, temporarily masking the commercial difficulties of a vehicle which stands out as the first truly substantial failure of the Californian manufacturer.
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