With the Cybertruck proving extremely difficult to sell, Tesla should pivot the vehicle to a rugged SUV – something like this.
Cybertruck sales are disastrous and Tesla is hiding it.
Tesla is the only major automaker that doesn’t break down its sales per model. Instead, it bundles Model S, Model X, Cybertruck, and Tesla Semi sales into a single category.
Despite adding Cybertruck to the category over the last year, Tesla reported deliveries in the category were down 24% year-over-year with the release of its Q1 2025 delivery results.
Again, Tesla is hiding the Cybertruck’s poor performance in the category, but if we removed estimated Model S/X sales, it looks like Tesla only sold about 5,000 Cybertrucks in the first quarter.
This means that sales are down compared to the last few quarters, despite Tesla ramping up production and Cybertruck gaining access to the federal tax credit in the US.
Tesla is now selling the Cybertruck at a rate of ~20,000 units per year after it planned for a production of 250,000 units per year and CEO Elon Musk claimed that he could see Tesla ramping it up to 500,000 units per after receiving over 1 million reservations for the vehicle.
The automaker received those reservations before confirming that the Cybertruck would be much more expensive than previously announced and has a much shorter range than initially promised.
The Cybertruck is a flop.
Can Tesla pivot the Cybertruck?
It’s hard for Musk to admit a mistake, and I believe he won’t admit defeat on the Cybertruck any time soon – even though he said that Tesla would prepare a more traditional pickup truck if the Cybertruck proves unpopular.
However, that was before Tesla received 1 million reservations for the vehicle. No matter how polarizing the Cybertruck’s design is, it wasn’t its main issue. The main problems are that the truck is much more expensive than initially announced and has a shorter range.
An alternative could be to pivot to a different form factor.
AI has turned the Tesla Cybertruck into a rugged SUV (via Tesla Lounge on Reddit):
This would be a strategy similar to Rivian, which sells and builds the R1T, a pickup truck, and the R1S, an SUV, on the same vehicle platform.
The R1S outsells the R1T by a significant margin.
With the Cybertruck’s bed not being the most useful, many would much prefer a third-row in a SUV. As the design exercise shows, Tesla’s Cybertruck stainless steel look could transfer nicely to an SUV form factor, likely appealing to a wider audience than the current Cybertruck.
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.