Elon Musk’s EV and battery monolith Tesla has finally abandoned plans to bring the controversial Cybertruck electric utility to Australia – and other right-hand drive markets – more than seven years after it was first unveiled and deposits taken.
The Cybertruck was first unveiled to the world in 2019, but there was always a question about whether it would ever be sold in Australia, largely due its size and Australia’s often strict design requirements.
There was talk of a slightly smaller model, but after the Cybertruck struggled for sales even in its own market, that idea – if it ever existed – has been canned.
Reservations for the Cybertruck for Australian customers ended in 2022, but in 2024 Tesla brought a Cybertruck out to Australia and took it around the country. Maybe the response was not as enthusiastic as they hoped.
In an email to deposit holders sent on Friday morning, a day after the company’s quarterly results were released, Tesla said:
“We’re writing with an important update regarding your reservation. After careful consideration, plans to produce Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand have been discontinued. As a result, we’re unable to fulfil your reservation and it will be cancelled.”
The $A150 deposits will be returned to reservation holders within 30 days. Tesla is offering one year free subscription to its Full Self Driving Supervised (FSD) software, as long as they buy a new Model 3 or Model Y.
It is the latest blow for Australian customers, who have been unable to secure any new Tesla Model S or Model X EVs, and are probably unlikely to see the newly-released Tesla Roadster, and definitely not the flying version.
Many long-term customers are also frustrated that they cannot secure FSD (full self driving), despite paying for it, because the hardware installed on their earlier models is not capable of supporting it.
Still, the Model Y remains the best-selling EV in Australia, by quite some distance, and overtook the country’s popular utes to be the best-selling passenger car of any type in several months this year, as EV sales in general boomed and captured one quarter of the new car sales market.
Tesla revealed in its quarterly results released on Thursday morning (Australian time) that more than 75 per cent of new Tesla purchases include a subscription to FSD Supervised, up from 55 per cent a year earlier. That takes the total paid FSD customer numbers to 1.7 million globally.
“It is clear that FSD is increasingly driving vehicle purchase decisions, while improvements in the v15 software stack and regulatory approvals in Europe could support broader adoption,” Morgan Stanley analysts commented in a note to clients.
Tesla even expects that the first privately owned customer vehicles will be able to participate in its unsupervised Robotaxi network around 2Q27, subject to software readiness and fleet management integration. Management also expects broader European regulatory approval by the first quarter of next year, although timing remains outside its control.
However, some of these regulatory decisions, including the proposed merger with SpaceX (Elon Musk holds 20 per cent of Tesla and 80 per cent of SpaceX) could well be shaped by political and consumer reaction to some of Musk’s actions in the past week.
These include the downgrading of Starlink capabilities for the Ukrainian army, leaving the country more vulnerable to incoming Russian missiles, and the role in that decision played by Musk and Donald Trump is facing intense scrutiny.
Both Musk and Trump have denied ordering the downgrade, but multiple US media reports have since pointed to a decision by Musk. One SpaceX investor said on CNN he was appalled by the decision as it will give cause to governments and private companies to look for alternatives to Starlink if they believe their service can be cancelled on a personal or political whim.
Those reports are compounded by Musk’s investment of more than $US150 million in the Texas Senate race, seeking to support one of the Republicans’ most vulnerable seats. If the Democrats win the House, and the Senate, some Congressmen have already vowed to open inquiries into Musk’s role with the Department of Energy Efficiency and other activities, including the Starlink downgrade.
It prompted a threat of retaliation from Musk on X, which has not gone down well with the Democrats and has dominated media headlines.
Musk’s merger plans may well be guided by a desire to create a company too big to be challenged by mere governments, and for that reason alone the proposal – along with others – is likely to face increased regulatory review.
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