Musk plans to cut Cybertruck production in Texas near mid-2027 to make room for Cybercab
Key Facts
Elon Musk said Tesla will gradually reduce Cybertruck production at its Texas factory near mid-2027 to make room for higher Cybercab output. Reuters, via Investing.com, reported the remarks, which specify a production cut at the Texas factory and do not announce a permanent end to Cybertruck production. It was also unclear whether production would move to another factory or stop altogether. The announcement comes as the company seeks to expand its Robotaxi project, which Cybercab has joined in Austin. The decision puts the Texas factory’s production capacity between the truck and an autonomous vehicle built for the fleet.
U.S. sales data point to pressure on Cybertruck: Tesla sold 20,237 trucks in 2025, down 48% from 38,965 in 2024, according to Kelley Blue Book data cited by Reuters. That performance compares with Musk’s earlier prediction, before the truck’s launch, that annual sales would reach 250,000 units. The comparison highlights the gap between the announced forecast and recorded U.S. sales in 2025. These figures alone do not provide details on the truck’s performance in other markets. Nor do the sales data identify the reason for or scale of the production cut.
In March 2025, a recall related to an exterior panel detaching covered 46,096 Cybertrucks from the 2024 and 2025 model years, according to an Associated Press report based on an order from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The action provides background on the operational challenges the truck faced after its launch. But the recall concerns a specific defect in an exterior panel and does not, on its own, establish that it caused Musk’s production decision. The announcement’s focus therefore remains on allocating production space at the Texas factory to Cybercab. The remarks did not specify details of the new production schedule or the number of units affected by the cut.
Tesla says Cybercab has already entered service as part of the Robotaxi fleet in Austin. The company said it began offering Robotaxi rides using Cybercabs on 3 September 2026, and said it launched the vehicle in the city’s fleet. Reuters reported that the company began offering paid rides with a limited number of Cybercabs in Austin in September. This means the vehicle has moved into service on a limited basis, while the announcement does not set a date for the start of public sales. Musk had announced that cutting Cybertruck production at the Texas factory would allow Cybercab output to increase.
In its third-quarter 2026 update, Tesla said cumulative miles driven on unsupervised Robotaxi rides rose eightfold quarter on quarter. The metric points to an expansion in activity compared with the previous quarter, according to the company, but does not give the absolute mileage. In the same update, Tesla described its passenger-vehicle order backlog at the end of the quarter as the largest in four years. At the same time, it said battery availability remained the limiting factor for increasing vehicle production volumes during the quarter. The statements place the Robotaxi project on a company-announced expansion path, alongside a production constraint Tesla said affected vehicle volumes more broadly.
Tesla said in a January 2025 filing that preparations were under way for Cybercab lines at its Texas factory, with mass production planned to begin during 2026. It then announced in the second quarter of 2026 that vehicle production had begun, describing it as an autonomous electric vehicle designed to be the primary workhorse of the Robotaxi fleet. These disclosures provide context for the announced Cybertruck production cut near mid-2027, after Cybercab moved from planning to production and rides in Austin. However, the statement on cutting truck production does not specify the targeted Cybercab output or when it would be reached. The announced timing for the start of Cybertruck production cuts is near mid-2027.