Tesla Pauses Production Of CyberTruck as Demand Slides and Problems Emerge

Tesla halts production of the CyberTruck as the company grapples with slowing demand and a growing list of quality issues for the futuristic truck.

Tesla is temporarily stopping production of its slow-selling CyberTruck as the company struggles with collapsing demand for the pickup.

When Tesla first announced that it was building the CyberTruck, the news was initially met with optimisim and a strong surge in early demand with the company logging over 2 million pre-orders from buyers looking to be the first to jump into the world of CyberTruck ownership. However, attention soon shifted away from some of the truck’s alleged abilities and instead centered on the growing list of problems customers reported having with their truck with these first reports morphing into a seemingly endless streak of CyberTruck-related recalls for Tesla.

The situation appears to have deteriorated even further with Tesla not only pausing production of the CyberTruck but also sending CyberTruck assemblers home in temporary layoffs as the company struggles to come to grips with the CyberTruck’s moribund sales.

Workers sent home as CyberTruck demand sours

A growing list of quality problems and negative attention in the press has been stifling demand.

This latest development comes from a report published by Business Insider which states the company notified CyberTruck workers at its Gigafactory facility in Texas to stay home from December 3rd to December 5th with production resuming on December 6th. These workers would get eight hours of pay in exchange for the days they were scheduled to work while they were at home. This comes on the heels of prior actions the company has done including shortening shifts for workers back in April.

These measures all center on how demand for the truck has essentially collapsed with Tesla dealerships having excess inventory of the slow-selling truck. The sales woes are partly due to the truck’s high price tag with many of its rivals not only undercutting the CyberTruck in pricing, but also beating the Tesla outright to the market. The truck’s growing bad reputation on social media and in the news has also played a role in stifling demand with many buyers not wanting to take a chance on the truck after finding reports online about some of its problems. 

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CyberTruck misses out on CR’s Automotive Report Card

These issues caused the CyberTruck to not be included in Consumer Report’s Annual Automotive Report Card.

In addition to its growling list of problems, the CyberTruck was also dubiously not included in the annual Automotive Report Card issued by Consumer Reports (Tesla itself did make the list.) Jake Fisher Senior Director of Testing for the Consumer Reports Auto Test Center issued a blunt response when we asked him about the subject saying “We don’t expect great things from the Cybertruck in the future because of its quality and other issues.”

Tesla has always been extremely vague about formal sales numbers for the pickup but it’s known that the company has sold a meager 28,250 units so far in 2024 with over 16,000 of these sales occurring during the third quarter. Tesla hopes that the fluxes in scheduling will help level out the supply of trucks to better respond to current demand levels. Ironically, despite these issues, the truck is still the most popular EV pickup in its segment but its days at the top could be numbered as rivals including the Ford F-150 Lightning catch up to it in sales.