Automobiles

Tesla Will Have to Refund Many Cybertruck Deposits, Musk Says, as Orders Outrun Production

Tesla will have to refund Cybertruck deposits for many customers because orders far exceed production capacity, chief executive Elon Musk said on Monday, 9 November 2026. "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," Musk said in a post on X. The comments come after Musk said Tesla would add an extra production shift to fulfil outstanding Cybertruck orders before dismantling the production line in 2027 to expand output of its Cybercab robotaxi. The production wind-down is slated for mid-2027, with resources redirected to the Cybercab.

jajoy39

Nov 9, 2026 - 17:40

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A silver Tesla Cybertruck driving toward the camera on a desert highway under a clear blue sky.

Tesla Will Have to Refund Many Cybertruck Deposits, Musk Says, as Orders Outrun Production

Tesla will have to refund Cybertruck deposits for many customers because orders far exceed production capacity, chief executive Elon Musk said on Monday, 9 November 2026. "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," Musk said in a post on X.

A backlog Tesla cannot build through

The comments come after Musk said Tesla would add an extra production shift to fulfil outstanding Cybertruck orders before dismantling the production line in 2027 to expand output of its Cybercab robotaxi. The production wind-down is slated for mid-2027, Musk announced on Friday, with the resources being redirected to the Cybercab, a vehicle central to the carmaker's autonomous-driving ambitions. On Saturday, Musk said the Cybertruck order backlog was significantly larger than Tesla could fulfil before dismantling the line. "The Cybertruck order backlog is currently far more than Tesla can make before dismantling the line for Cybercab expansion around June/July next year," he said in his post.

"Not a case of Cybertruck being unprofitable"

Musk also pushed back against coverage of the vehicle, saying it was wrong to suggest, as "legacy media" had, that the Cybertruck is unprofitable. "This is not a case of Cybertruck being unprofitable, as has been misreported by legacy media, but rather that the opportunity cost of the complexity of Cybertruck is vastly outweighed by the value of incremental Cybercab production," he said. Tesla began delivering the Cybertruck in late 2023, but demand has fallen far short of Musk's expectations. US sales fell 48 per cent to 20,237 units in 2025, according to Kelley Blue Book, well below Musk's earlier projection that annual Cybertruck sales could reach 250,000 vehicles.

What happens next

Tesla will keep building Cybertrucks for about eight more months, adding a shift to clear as much of the backlog as it can, and then dismantle the line at Gigafactory Texas to make room for the Cybercab. Customers whose orders cannot be built in that window will get their deposits back — an unusual ending for a vehicle that arrived with more than a million reservations and was supposed to redefine the pickup truck.