Tesla will wind down Cybertruck production in Texas next year

His post was short. Tesla "will be winding down production of the Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas around the middle of next year to make room for increased Cybercab production."

A gigafactory is Tesla's name for one of its very large car plants. This one is in Austin, Texas.

Here is what he left out:

• No stop date: He gave no exact day for the end of production.
• No word on a full stop: "Winding down" could mean ending, or running at a low rate.
• No new home: He did not say whether Cybertruck building will move to another plant.
• No Cybercab numbers: He did not say how many more robotaxis the freed space will build.

A robotaxi is a taxi that drives itself. The Cybercab is Tesla's purpose-built one: a two-seat car with no steering wheel, no pedals and no mirrors.

Tesla started building it at Gigafactory Texas this year. It has been carrying passengers in Texas, including in Austin and Dallas. Musk had warned that output would start slowly and was unlikely to bring in much money before 2027.

In real life Think of a restaurant that swaps a big table for two small ones because the small ones fill up faster. The floor space stays the same. What sits on it changes.

Musk unveiled the Cybertruck in November 2019. It looked like nothing else on the road, and it made a lot of noise online.

The numbers tell the rest of the story:

• Price promise: The starting price was promised at $39,900. The cheapest version that went on sale cost $59,900.
• Today's sticker: The Premium All-Wheel Drive version is listed at $92,490 on Tesla's design page.
• Deliveries: Customer deliveries began in late 2023.
• Sales: Tesla does not report Cybertruck sales. Even the highest analyst estimates reach only about 70,000 trucks in total.
• The old forecast: Musk once predicted 250,000 sales a year.

By the numbers: at the forecast rate, Tesla would have sold that many trucks in about four months of one year. In reality it took roughly three years to reach 70,000.

Tesla does not explain it, so this part is analysis. Three things stand out.

First, the price. A truck that costs far more than promised reaches fewer buyers. Second, the design. Many people love the flat steel look. Others find it odd, and it is not legal to drive in many parts of the world. Third, quality. The truck has had a string of recalls, which are official repair orders. One covered trim panels that could fall off while driving.

Tesla also keeps shrinking where it sells the truck. In October, it canceled Cybertruck plans for Australia and New Zealand and refunded reservation holders there.

Tesla does not publish a Cybertruck number, so the year-by-year figures are outside estimates. They point one way.

• 2024: The first full year of sales came in at fewer than 40,000 trucks, by most estimates.
• 2025: Estimates drop to roughly 20,000, about half as many.
• 2026: Registration data through May showed only around 7,000 new trucks in the US.

That is the opposite of a ramp. A vehicle usually sells best in its first years, when the novelty is fresh. The Cybertruck went the other way, and that gives Musk's factory-space argument more weight.

Tesla has been clearing room for the Cybercab all year. The first test unit rolled off the Giga Texas line in February 2026. Musk said regular production would begin in the second quarter, and Tesla showed it running from April.

By July, hundreds of Cybercabs had been spotted near the plant. The car is built in a different way from most cars. Tesla builds big sections of the car side by side and joins them late, which it calls "unboxed" manufacturing. That method needs room and its own tooling.

Tesla's other big bets also sit in Texas. For the company's latest results, see our story on the third-quarter deliveries. For the humanoid robot that shares the site, see our Optimus story.

The big picture: Austin is the only Tesla plant known to build the Cybertruck. It is also the only one set up to make the special parts the truck needs.

That makes a move hard. The stainless-steel body is built differently from other Tesla bodies, so a new plant would need new tools and new training. It is a big cost for a vehicle that has never sold in large numbers.

Giga Texas also builds the Model Y and, now, the Cybercab. Floor space there is limited, and every square foot has to earn its keep.

Not entirely. The day after Tesla began taking passengers in Austin, the US safety regulator NHTSA opened a review of how Tesla certified the car. It covers about 1,000 vehicles.

Here is the issue. In the US, automakers certify that their own cars meet safety rules, and the regulator checks later. Many of those rules assume a human driver, with a steering wheel and pedals. The Cybercab has none. NHTSA said it is looking at "the process and technical data on which Tesla relied when certifying the Cybercab."

Tesla has not asked for the special exemption that Amazon's Zoox got in July for its own steering-wheel-free robotaxis. Tesla decided that some of the rules simply do not apply to a car with no human controls.

The catch: a review is not a ruling. It does not stop the Cybercab, but it shows that the car Tesla is betting the factory on still has a federal question to answer.

Tesla moved quickly on this question. Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill replied on X: "Yes, of course! Tesla will maintain spare parts and service will continue support."

He also called the Cybertruck "an incredible technology development platform" that "lives on through Cybercab." That fits the story Tesla is telling. Some of what the company learned building the truck carries over to the robotaxi.

If you own a Cybertruck, nothing changes today. Your truck keeps its warranty, and Tesla says parts will keep coming.

• Own one: Service and spare parts will continue, according to Tesla's own engineer.
• Want one: Production runs until about mid-2027, so you have time. Prices have been climbing, not falling.
• Curious about robotaxis: Expect more Cybercabs from Texas, and more questions from regulators.
• Watching Tesla: The company is putting its biggest factory behind a car with no driver, and that is a clear signal of where it wants to go.