The Cybertruck was meant to be a home run for Tesla with annual planned production to exceed 250,000 units. That did not happen. Elon Musk’s siding with Donald Trump before and after the election, his support for Germany’s right-wing AfD party, and his cutthroat actions with DOGE pretty much turned the whole world against the once popular electric car brand. Tesla sales are down literally everywhere. Indeed, analysts and commentators are asking — can the company survive?
The Guardian said the truck’s poor sales and the company’s shifting marketing strategies indicate a potential downturn, while USA Today and CNN comment that declining profits and a soured reputation for Musk are damaging the brand.
Over 10,000 unsold Cybertrucks amount to $800 million
Tesla today has over 10,000 unsold Cybertrucks sitting in lots around the U.S. that amount to around $800 million. That’s an inventory to last for at least three months if they stop making the trucks now. That’s based on past sales performance before the election.
The brand then puts its hopes on the newly facelifted and just-launched Model Y but the anti-Musk sentiment has led to hundreds of Model Ys just sitting on lots gathering dust, with the Model Y Launch Edition failing to sell out as originally expected by the firm.
Sales down 75% in Netherlands and 62% in the UK
Overseas Tesla’s sales are tanking more than in the the U.S. In the Netherlands for example, sales are down 75% compared to April of 2024. Meanwhile, in the U.K., sales plummeted 62% while in Germany as it gives up market share to carmakers including BYD and VW. News that a privately imported Cybertruck had been stopped and impounded by British police only compounded previous reports that the truck had been banned in the country for its excessive size, weight and sharp, potentially dangerous metal edges.
Tesla sales in China are down 6% year-by-year which may not seem significant, but China is a crucial market for the American EV brand, so falling sales there are alarming.
The bottom line is whether Tesla can make a comeback, from the brink, with new models and advanced self-driving tech. Will its new Model 3 and Y stand up against the EV onslaught from China and Korea? Medium.com questions this idea by suggesting that while the Model 3 is a viable EV, the Kia EV3 undercuts the Model 3 by around $5,000 in some markets including the UK, plus the Kia has a higher quality interior and charges as quickly as the Tesla.
XPeng G6 is better and cheaper than Tesla Model Y
Meanwhile, the popular Electric Viking Youtube channel in Australia focused on a problem that will increasingly plague Tesla sales worldwide. Site owner Sam Evans says that he canceled his Tesla Model Y order and instead opted for a Chinese-made XPeng G6—which is the same size as a Model Y and built in a similar way using Tesla-style giga casting—simply because of price and cost performance. (Check out the second part of the following video for the XPeng-Tesla comparison as the first half is about a tank crushing a Model 3).
He explains a crucial fact—that XPeng and other EV makers bought a Tesla Model Y several years ago, dismantled it, and then made their own EV a bit better in terms of quality, luxury and price. And price was a major factor here. The AUD$59,800 price for the XPeng G6 long range was virtually the same as that for the AUD$58,900 Tesla Model Y standard version. Tesla’s long range model is around $10,000 more.
The Cybertruck fiasco, with all its recalls and public backlash in hurting Tesla, but it’s this price and quality reality that, if not confronted by Tesla, could compound and lead to the company losing more market share and eventually failing, not to mention the motoring public’s continued negative reactions to Musk’s ongoing antics.