With sales down is the CT going to become a Delorean

[YDR37]

For 2Q 2025, Tesla reported deliveries of 384,122 vehicles worldwide. Of those, 10,394 were the expensive models (S/X/CT). We can assume that roughly half of that number, or around 5.200, were Cybertrucks. So in 2Q 2025, Cybertrucks were about 5,200 of Tesla's 384,122 vehicle deliveries, which is only about 1.4%. And at this time, CT sales do not appear to be growing.

That doesn't mean that the CT is unprofitable, or that Tesla is going to discontinue it. But it could mean that the CT is no longer one of Tesla's top priorities. In that case, we might not see new Cybertruck-specific features or accessories in the future (they may get cancelled like the Range Extender), and there could be more issues with existing parts/accessories going temporarily out of stock.

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[GuyV]

This is just my opinion on this matter. CT when it first came out was all hyped up. Plus, no one has seen a vehicle like this before, ever… Needless to say, Tesla couldn’t keep up with the demand for them. However, just like every product out there, its day in the sunlight came to an end. No I don’t think it was bad press with all of the recalls and so on (like which whole new model doesn’t have something wrong with it). In some sense, that probably helped it in some ways by keeping it in the headlines. The main reason why sales has slowed down is that the people who really wanted it, got it and that’s it. The pool of people has worn out. Trucks, even though, are the best selling type of vehicles in the US are vehicles that people who buy them keep them for years and years. My guess from these truck buyers only 1/3 will go out and buy a CT or an EV truck. EV trucks are not yet ready for actual “work”. Maybe the second or third generation the table will turn. However, there’s a lot of things that manufacturers and especially with Tesla will need to do a lot of things to convience buyers that Cybertrucks are capable.

The Cybertruck is more ready for a lot of kinds of work than many other trucks being sold. The publicity and hype over it have not been the kind to get folks to focus on its practical capabilities. Part of that has put it in people's minds that it is too expensive to consider for much of that work. In all of that it has been critically undermined by its creator. The efforts of those of us trying to spread the word on its real specifications and utility have been massively drowned out. It will inevitably get much cheaper relative to the market and will just have to sell itself on its own considerable merits.

 

[Mini2nut]

It turns out that manufacturing the CT using a stressed skin exoskeleton would have delayed CT production even further and would have been cost prohibitive.

Tesla went with Plan B as an executive decision had to made to get the truck to market. The reservation holders were getting restless with the ongoing production delays.

 

[daviddjones1]

I think it is amazing truck. I have owned 2- F-150 Fords (which is the no. 1 seller for a reason). I would rate the cyberbeast a 10 and the F-150 as a 7 after 8000 miles. It even is better than the series 3 and 5 BMW’S, 911 Turbo porsche, and 2- ZR -1 Corvettes I have owned. Also a 580 Mercedes which I hated. The reason is that it so much fun to drive, rides as smooth as a “Cadillac”, handles as well as the BMW’S, and can out perform my turbo Porsche. And it a truck, is what I bought it for.

 

[HaulingAss]

There is no exoskeleton on our CTs. The rear quarters are glued on and removable. There’s an interesting YouTube video of a repair/replacement of a partial rear casting structure, with the entire rear body removed. There’s another video series showing nearly all panels on a CT being replaced one at a time over a period of months due to glue failure, and ultimately a buyback.

Incorrect. Structural adhesive is found on the structural elements of every modern car. Calling it "glue" does not change that fact, nor does it mean the Exoskeleton is not structural. Lars (the Head of Vehicle Engineering at Tesla) has made it clear that the sail panels are structural. Otherwise they would have been much thinner and lighter.

Abandoning the exoskeleton plan allowed Tesla to cut the stainless steel thickness by about half, regaining part of the weight that the underlying steel structure added. The combined effect is that the CT still ended up much heavier than a true exoskeleton would have achieved, hence the limited range and missed towing targets/low efficiency.

While it's obvious that the stainless steel does not carry the same percentage of structural strength as originally planned, this design is actually lighter than it would have been had they used the full 3.0 mm thick panels. Because the other chassis components are shaped and placed specifically where needed to carry the load. The panels just add the last 10-20% of chassis rigidity and payload capacity. Without those panels being structural, the truck would not exhibit such crisp handling performance. This is why people say it handles like a big sports car (because it has more body rigidity than million dollar sports cars). I've driven my Cybertruck on narrow, twisty one lane paved mountain roads with 2400 lbs. of firewood and tools in the back and the handling was still crisp and controllable. No body on frame truck can do that (and even the chassis of other unibody trucks like the Avalanche are not nearly as rigid).

It is interesting that the GM EV pickup models have almost the same efficiency per mile as the CT despite 2,000 more pounds gross weight and batteries nearly twice as big on the longest range models, plus a couple thousand more rated towing pounds.

Except the efficiency is not almost the same, the dual motor Cybertruck is around 20% more efficient than most dual motor Silverado's. If you subtract the battery weight from each brand of truck, the Cybertruck is about 1,000 lbs. lighter and has a higher payload capacity. That's due to it's better engineering and using the thick body panels as structural elements.

I know you like to shit on the Cybertruck, but please avoid using inaccurate comparisons and statements when trying to compare the two. If what you said were true, there would be a 340 mile version that weighed the same or less than the Cybertruck. But it's not even close.

 

[HaulingAss]

It turns out that manufacturing the CT using a stressed skin exoskeleton would have delayed CT production even further and would have been cost prohibitive.

Tesla went with Plan B as an executive decision had to made to get the truck to market. The reservation holders were getting restless with the ongoing production delays.

Incorrect. After the Cybertruck had been in production for many months, Lars confirmed the skin is structural. It's responsible for the wonderful chassis rigidity that is displayed by the Cybertruck, as well as it's best-in-class payload capacity. You no longer have to drive a "flexi-flyer" just because you're driving a truck.

 

[BrockN]

For 2Q 2025, Tesla reported deliveries of 384,122 vehicles worldwide. Of those, 10,394 were the expensive models (S/X/CT). We can assume that roughly half of that number, or around 5.200, were Cybertrucks. So in 2Q 2025, Cybertrucks were about 5,200 of Tesla's 384,122 vehicle deliveries, which is only about 1.4%. And at this time, CT sales do not appear to be growing.

When you think about it in those terms, CT really is in the niche market segment with S and X. That market is limited.

Had it actually landed at the prices teased in the beginning, it would have fit closer to 3 and Y. And would be selling in big numbers. Instead, it's mostly being sold to people who treat it like a pavement princess... wrapped, accessorized, never doing any messy work. A completely different story had it been affordable to the masses who would use it as an actual truck...

 

[HaulingAss]

I don't think the problem is cameras. The problem is similar to the one they have with Grok frequently debunking Musk. They are much much further than they admit, or maybe realize, from mastery over the training of AI.

The reason Grok frequently disagrees with what Musk says has less to do with the development of AI and everything to do with the source material. There is so much anti-Musk stuff in the materials Grok uses to inform itself, it can't help but reflect that anti-Musk bias in it's answers.

I'm not that smart, but this forum makes me feel that way. It's so easy to find incorrect perspectives here I end up looking brilliant.

 

[HaulingAss]

When you think about it in those terms, CT really is in the niche market segment with S and X. The market is limited.

Had it actually landed at the prices teased in the beginning, it would have fit closer to 3 and Y. And would be selling in big numbers. Instead, it's mostly being sold to people who treat it like a pavement princess... wrapped, accessorized, never doing any messy work. A completely different story had it been affordable to thr masses who would use it as an actual truck...

Blue collar workers who buy pickups often spend around $80K on a truck (and then more money buying things like tonneau covers, bed liners, dash cams, and other things the Cybertruck already has). The Cybertruck is definitely a bit more high-end than the AVERAGE pickup, but many blue collar workers treat themselves to well-equipped pickups because their truck is so integral to their work life.

An acquaintance of mine has a one-man electrician business and just replaced his Toyota Tacoma ($60K) with an $80K Dodge Ram 1500. My brother sells parts and equipment to food processors and gets paid by his boss to use his own pickup for sales calls. He bought a Dodge 2500 (I think) about two years ago for $100K.

The Cybertruck is not as expensive as people try to make it out to be. Once you factor in the much lower cost of operation, it's actually cheaper. And that's not even counting the cost of downtime for regular service and repairs that weighs unfavorably on ICE trucks.

 

[HaulingAss]

I unsubscribed from Electrek because his content is very biased in my opinion and lately he focuses more on electric bikes which I am not interested in at all.

He's probably putting more focus on electric bikes because he has lost so much credibility in the EV space. No one trusts him anymore, except the anti-Tesla crowd still loves him. But it's pretty hard to base your business on a small group of people who have little to no money to their name.

 

[HaulingAss]

EV trucks are not yet ready for actual “work”. Maybe the second or third generation the table will turn.

Huh? The Cybertruck is better and cheaper at doing all the actual "work" that I use trucks for in the last 20 years than my F-150! Sure, there are niche use cases where a gas or diesel truck is still better, but those use cases are not mainstream, most people don't use their trucks for any work that is not compatible with the Cybertruck.

 

[BrockN]

Blue collar workers who buy pickups often spend around $80K on a truck (and then more money buying things like tonneau covers, bed liners, dash cams, and other things the Cybertruck already has). The Cybertruck is definitely a bit more high-end than the AVERAGE pickup, but many blue collar workers treat themselves to well-equipped pickups because their truck is so integral to their work life.

An acquaintance of mine has a one-man electrician business and just replaced his Toyota Tacoma ($60K) with an $80K Dodge Ram 1500. My brother sells parts and equipment to food processors and gets paid by his boss to use his own pickup for sales calls. He bought a Dodge 2500 (I think) about two years ago for $100K.

The Cybertruck is not as expensive as people try to make it out to be. Once you factor in the much lower cost of operation, it's actually cheaper. And that's not even counting the cost of downtime for regular service and repairs that weighs unfavorably on ICE trucks.

But how many of those people put down their reservation payment after the reveal, five-plus years ago? You're already trying to break into the truck market that is highly anti-EV... If it's not affordable to the average guy as the original prices teased,, then the guys who were in that beer budget segment are not going to mortgage themselves to death to have it at current prices.

I think this reflects economic elasticity. It does not mean that the model is a failure. It does not mean Tesla will kill it. It simply means that the reservation numbers don't translate or stretch to this price point. If the negative media eases up, the actual value of the vehicle could shine through and attract more beer-budget buyers once they recognize the superior overall cost of ownership and the actual utility of the truck. Right now it's seen as a rich person's plaything, even though many owners (you and I included) actually use it as a tool rather than a toy.

 

[GuyV]

The reason Grok frequently disagrees with what Musk says has less to do with the development of AI and everything to do with the source material. There is so much anti-Musk stuff in the materials Grok uses to inform itself, it can't help but reflect that anti-Musk bias in it's answers.

I'm not that smart, but this forum makes me feel that way. It's so easy to find incorrect perspectives here I end up looking brilliant.

Hehe, that doesn't contradict what I said. Think about that.

 

[GuyV]

Blue collar workers who buy pickups often spend around $80K on a truck (and then more money buying things like tonneau covers, bed liners, dash cams, and other things the Cybertruck already has). The Cybertruck is definitely a bit more high-end than the AVERAGE pickup, but many blue collar workers treat themselves to well-equipped pickups because their truck is so integral to their work life.

An acquaintance of mine has a one-man electrician business and just replaced his Toyota Tacoma ($60K) with an $80K Dodge Ram 1500. My brother sells parts and equipment to food processors and gets paid by his boss to use his own pickup for sales calls. He bought a Dodge 2500 (I think) about two years ago for $100K.

The Cybertruck is not as expensive as people try to make it out to be. Once you factor in the much lower cost of operation, it's actually cheaper. And that's not even counting the cost of downtime for regular service and repairs that weighs unfavorably on ICE trucks.

That's true, but the way they launched it as exclusively 100K+ Foundation Series Models absolutely made it SEEM that way. That impression has been firmly fixed in public perception. They aren't doing much to make it go away either. That might still happen over time though. Pressure on Tesla to make it cheaper and tariff chaos making everything else available in the US more expensive lead in that direction.

 

[Dyna88]

Picked up my CT on 6/30. I'm not sure why more folks aren't buying this sports car on steroids with a cabin that feels more like a lay flat international business class seat. Got a great APR better than what GM or Toyota was offering me @ 6.2% heck no to that. I do say that the CT could be 1' to 2' shorter.

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