Tesla Cybertruck is in crisis: new discounts and throttling down production
The Tesla Cybertruck, once hailed as the futuristic game-changer of the electric truck world, is now in serious trouble. Despite all the buzz and high hopes when it first launched in late 2023, the reality in 2025 paints a much different picture. Tesla is facing mounting challenges with the Cybertruck — from sluggish sales and unsold inventory to deep discounts and scaled-back production.
When Tesla unveiled the production version of the Cybertruck, CEO Elon Musk made a bold promise: the company would ramp up to produce 250,000 units per year by 2025. Fast forward to now, and the reality is sobering. Tesla is currently selling the Cybertruck at a pace closer to 25,000 units per year — just a tenth of Musk’s projection. This massive gap between expectation and reality signals more than just a production hiccup. It points to fundamental issues with demand and market fit.
A Growing Inventory Problem
Tesla’s warehouses and lots are starting to overflow with unsold Cybertrucks. At the start of Q2 2025, the automaker had about 2,400 units in inventory — worth over $200 million. Many of these are 2024 models, meaning they’re not eligible for the federal EV tax credit anymore. Some of them even belong to the now-discontinued “Foundation Series,” which hasn’t been produced since October 2024. This means Tesla is sitting on hundreds of trucks that have been unsold for over six months — not a good look for a company known for fast-moving inventory.
To clear out this backlog, Tesla has started slashing prices. Some Cybertruck models are being discounted by as much as $10,000, though the average discount sits around $8,000 — which is actually more than the $7,500 federal tax credit that most buyers expect. Still, even with these significant discounts, Tesla has only managed to move about 100 units since the beginning of the month.
It’s a clear sign that the problem isn’t just pricing — it’s demand. And demand, it seems, is drying up.
According to a new report from Business Insider, Tesla is drastically slowing down Cybertruck production at its Gigafactory in Texas. Two Tesla employees revealed that the production teams have been reduced significantly, and the assembly lines are running at a fraction of their original capacity. In fact, some workers have already been reassigned from Cybertruck production to the more popular Model Y line.
One worker reportedly said, “It feels a lot like they’re filtering people out. The parking lot keeps getting emptier.” That comment highlights what many see as a quiet retreat — not an official shutdown, but a clear shift away from Cybertruck investment.
It’s worth noting that Tesla has been operating all of its global factories at about 60% capacity recently. The aim? To avoid overproducing during a period of softened EV demand. But for the Cybertruck, the situation seems even more extreme — closer to survival mode than strategic scaling.
A Flop of a New Model
In a last-ditch effort to spark interest, Tesla recently introduced a new rear-wheel-drive (RWD) version of the Cybertruck. But instead of reigniting demand, it’s received lukewarm (if not outright negative) feedback. The stripped-down model lacks many of the essential features that customers have come to expect, and early reactions suggest it hasn’t moved the needle.
Without a backlog of eager buyers and with existing inventory sitting untouched, this new RWD trim appears more like a desperate experiment than a carefully planned product expansion.
If things continue this way, Tesla may be forced to make an even tougher call: temporarily halting Cybertruck production altogether. While Elon Musk is known for pushing through adversity and rarely admitting failure, even he may be running out of options.
The signs are already there — scaled-down factory operations, reallocation of staff, and stale inventory piling up. Pausing production could be the next logical step, even if it’s a reluctant one. The Cybertruck was supposed to be a revolution. Bold, different, and futuristic — it aimed to disrupt the truck market and put Tesla ahead of traditional automakers once again. But with disappointing sales, aging unsold models, and now major discounts, Tesla’s electric truck experiment may be hitting a wall.
That said, Tesla isn’t known for walking away easily. The company has a track record of bouncing back from adversity. Still, this might be the first real test of the limits of Elon Musk’s vision. Whether Tesla can turn things around with new upgrades, price adjustments, or a marketing reboot remains to be seen. But one thing’s for sure: the road ahead for the Cybertruck is looking bumpier than ever.
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