The Cybertruck failed to catch on with car buyers due to high prices and some notable recalls

The Tesla Cybertruck is headed for the scrap heap of history.

Tesla will wind down production of its Cybertruck electric pickup, according to CEO Elon Musk, putting an end to a relatively brief and controversial experiment.

What Musk once described as Tesla's "best ever" product will now be sidelined in favor of a focus on autonomous vehicles. This comes nearly three years after deliveries first began and seven years after Tesla teased the stainless-steel truck that some have compared to a "trapezoid on wheels."

In the middle of 2027, Tesla (TSLA) plans to change the production lines at its Texas factory to boost production of the Cybercab robotaxi, Musk said in a post on X on Friday. A few months ago, Tesla stopped making its older Model S and Model X luxury electric vehicles at its facility in Fremont, Calif., resetting that capacity toward production of its Optimus humanoid robot.

The official Cybertruck X account posted a video early Friday morning of the vehicle driving into the sunset, while Musk confirmed that the Cybertruck would be discontinued next year.

After production of the Cybertruck ends, Tesla's lineup will include the popular Model Y SUV and the Model 3 sedan, as well as the Semi, a commercial truck. Tesla also aims to begin selling the Cybercab - a gold-toned two-seater vehicle that lacks a steering wheel or pedals - to the public by the end of the year.

"Musk is focused on robotics and the robotaxi era," Dan Ives, an analyst at Yorkville Ives, told MarketWatch over email. "The writing was on the wall given [the Cybertruck's] high price points and demand that has been subpar."

From the archives (November 2025): Tesla's Cybertruck is turning 2. It's been a big flop.

The Cybertruck has never been a major seller, despite initial indications of serious demand. Even as the truck's launch was delayed from 2021 to late 2023, purchase reservations kept coming in, at one point reaching 2 million, according to a crowd-sourced tracker.

Those reported orders never materialized for several reasons, including a number of high-profile recalls and a much higher price tag than expected. The electric-pickup segment is also not very popular as a whole, despite consumers' love for gas-powered pickup trucks.

When the Cybertruck was unveiled in 2019, Musk said it would be priced between $39,900 and $69,900. In 2026, the cheapest model retails for over $80,000, while the "Cyberbeast" starts at more than $102,000. The car also had difficulty breaking into international markets, including in the European Union and Australia.

Tesla sold about 59,000 electric pickup trucks in the U.S. between 2024 and 2025, according to the research firm Cox Automotive. During the first nine months of 2026, another 11,586 Cybertrucks were delivered, a 28% decline compared with 2025, according to Cox data.

SpaceX (SPCX), Musk's other public company, was among the major buyers of the vehicle. In a filing, it disclosed purchasing $131 million worth of Cybertrucks at Tesla's "suggested retail price" in 2025. Tesla and SpaceX have said they are exploring a merger.

Tesla won't be fully abandoning its Cybertuck customers, according to Wes Morrill, the lead engineer on the vehicle. In a post on X, he said that Tesla will maintain a supply of spare parts for the model. Musk also wrote that the Cybertruck fleet "will be around for a long time."

"Cybertruck was an incredible technology development platform and lives on through Cybercab," Morrill wrote in a response to Musk's post on X.

Tesla shares rose 5% in recent action on Friday, after the stock was battered in Thursday's session. Heading into Friday's trading, Tesla had erased more than $200 billion in market capitalization over a two-day span.

Musk gave more than $400 million to political action committees supporting Republicans in the midterm cycle. Now investors are concerned about what the election results may mean for the artificial-intelligence buildout, Musk's business empire and his companies' merger prospects.

A "less friendly Congress" means a "messier" merger process, "even if it doesn't automatically block it," David Wagner, a portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, previously told MarketWatch.

-Nora Redmond -William Gavin