With demand in a sharp slump, Tesla’s controversial Cybertruck has slipped to second in the emerging EV pickup segment, behind the Ford F-150 Lightning. But the Blue Oval’s all-electric truck has its own struggles. Headlight.News has more.
Ford’s Lightning outsold the Tesla Cybertruck during the first quarter and appears to be gaining momentum as its rival fades.
In the weeks after its November 2019 debut, Tesla claims to have racked up more than 1 million advance reservations for the pyramid-shaped Cybertruck. Since its launch four years later, the Texas-based automaker has found it unexpectedly difficult to translate reservations into sales.
If anything, demand for Cybertruck has plunged in recent months as Tesla has become collateral damage from the controversy facing the brand’s CEO Elon Musk over his role in the new Trump administration.
Ford’s F-150 Lightning has now overtaken the Tesla truck to become the best-selling model in the emerging EV pickup segment. That said, sales of Ford’s full-size battery-electric model are running well below capacity, as well.
By the numbers
Even a helping hand from Pres. Donald Trump has done little to build demand for Cybertruck.
While Tesla doesn’t break out Cybertruck sales, nor report overall numbers on a monthly basis, the automaker managed to deliver less than 40,000 last year, well short of the 250,000 its factory was tooled up for. While it’s normal to expect a gradual ramp-up of a major new product at a new plant, S&P Global Mobility used registration data to determine that Cybertruck has been losing momentum in recent months.
In March, Tesla saw only 2,170 of the electric trucks registered in the U.S., nearly 17% less than the 2,599 Ford Lightnings registered that month. For the full quarter, Cybertruck came in at 7,126, nearly 10% below the 7,913 Lightning registrations.
By one recent report, Tesla currently is saddled with an $800 million backlog of unsold Cybertrucks.
Preliminary data suggest demand for the Cybertruck continues to decline, The automaker reportedly has slashed production at its assembly plant in Austin, Texas. And with some members of the production team moved to other vehicle lines, that suggests Tesla doesn’t expect to see demand for the Cybertruck to regain momentum anytime soon.
What went wrong
A Cybertruck owner posted this image of a loose panel on his pickup. The pickup has now faced eight recalls.
Even as Musk rolled out the Cybertruck during a well-attended event in November 2019 there was an ominous note, Though the truck supposedly could withstand the “apocalypse,” according to the CEO, its driver’s window was shattered during a demonstration of its durability.
Since launch, further questions have been raised about both its durability and capabilities. It has been caught trapped in snow and while attempting to ford water. And the truck has now faced a total of eight separate recalls.
Though Cybertruck did do better than electric rivals in federal crash tests, the truck fared far more poorly in a number of reviews, such as one from Consumer Reports magazine which found numerous problems with its performance and features.
Add to the challenges the fact that Cybertruck fell short in two particularly critical areas: range and cost. When Musk first showed the pickup off he promised it would deliver up to 500 miles range – and start at around $40,000. When deliveries began five years later the electric pickup cost more than twice as much and could muster a relatively meager 320 miles per charge, at best.
But there’s another issue that’s proven particularly problematic for Cybertruck – and Tesla, as a whole.
More Tesla News
- Tesla Recalls Cybertruck as Panels Fly Off
- Tesla Weighed Down by $800 Mil in Unsold Cybertrucks
- The “Musk Effect”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s ties to Pres. Donald Trump are now seen as hurting the brand.
The Musk Factor
That problem is Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “The Cybertruck is an easy target, caught in the chaos of Elon Musk’s childish, irrational, and reckless political behavior. As a result, the lust has faded for this already controversial truck,” Robby DeGraff, an analyst at AutoPacific told Automotive News.
Of all five Tesla retail product lines, the over-the-top design and massive size of Cybertruck has made it a lightning rod drawing the most direct pushback by those who oppose Musk’s political turn to the far right and his role as head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.
A number of owners have reported their trucks being vandalized and there have been numerous Cybertrucks targeted by protestors at Tesla dealerships.
Ford has its own trouble
Demand for the F-150 Lightning has tumbled, leading Ford to slash production at its plant in Dearborn, Michigan.
While it doesn’t face the same sort of political pushback as Cybertruck’s Ford certainly has sales headaches of its own with the F-150 Lightning. On the plus side, the automaker reported demand grew 38.7% in 2024, growing t 33,510 from 24,165 the year before.
Based on first-quarter 2025 numbers, however, it doesn’t appear to be on truck for another big year of growth. Even if it did score similar gains it would yet lag far behind its original target. When the automaker first began production in early 2022, Ford tooled up its Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan to roll out about 50,000 Lightnings annually. But, misreading its own early registrations, the company bet it could triple that number to 150,000. It’s never come close and has been running the factory at significantly reduced capacity.
Lightning’s had far fewer quality and reliability issues than Cybertruck – and has generally been subject of more positive reviews . But it has suffered from concerns about price and range, as well. Reviewers have noted that the maximum 320 miles per charge, depending upon trim, falls sharply, both in cold weather conditions and when towing.
Ford has tweaked the price of Cybertruck several times now – a move that helped boost demand last year. But it has yet to figure out a way to build demand up to the original production target, never mind the numbers it now has capacity to build.
The biggest factor is price. I don’t know what Ford is selling the Lightning for, but I’ll bet it’s less than $80,000. I like the cybertruck design, but I’m in the Ranger/Maverick price range.