Uh oh, it sounds like there's a fire sale over at Tesla, and as the electric vehicle company's stocks continue to tumble in 2025, Elon Musk has been forced to knock $10,000 off the price tag of the beefy Cybertruck.
While Musk's position as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency has led to him slashing the federal workforce, it turns out it's not the only area where he's having to make cuts.
Since its release in November 2023, the Cybertruck has faced a barrage of controversial press and recalls, but still, this all-American (well, not quite) vehicle is touted by some as saving them thousands every year.
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Despite Elon Musk originally promising the Cybertruck would launch for $39,900, it eventually rolled out for $74,000 and $94,000 for the high-tech 'Cyberbeast'.
That didn't stop the Cybertruck from stealing the spotlight, but amid recalls and struggling sales, Tesla has whacked a hefty discount on the EV pickup.
When Musk first launched the Cybertruck, he hyped its potential and told the world he'd be selling 250,000 units a year in 2025: "I think we’ll end up with roughly a quarter million Cybertrucks a year, but I don’t think we’re going to reach that output rate next year. I think we’ll probably reach it sometime in 2025." In reality, Tesla is currently selling about 25,000 Cybertrucks a year, making it just a tenth of what Musk envisioned.
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Earlier in 2025, Electrek reported that Tesla had some 2,400 Cybertrucks in its inventory, totally an eye-watering $200 million of unsold vehicles. The outlet reiterates that this could be a major problem because most of these unsold Cybertrucks are the older 2024 models that aren't eligible for the federal tax credit. Whipping out its sale stickers, new discounts on Cybertrucks are averaging $8,000 but can go as high as $10,000 - which is more than the tax credit.
This comes after Business Insider claimed Tesla is 'throttling' Cybertruck production and is moving workers off production lines.
A source said that the already minimal Cybertruck production teams have seen their workforce thinned by half, with one worker saying: "It feels a lot like they're filtering people out. The parking lot keeps getting emptier."
Tesla apparently only sold 6,406 Cybertrucks in the first three months of 2025, making it half of the previous quarter.
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Although Musk boasted that there were more than a million reservations before the Cybertruck launched, a March 20 recall reiterates that less than 50,000 have been sold in total. This coincides with reports that production targets have been 'scaled back' in the first quarter of 2025.
In general, Tesla says are down by 13% when compared to the same period last year, which won't be helped by the recent eruption of violence and calls to boycott the company. Despite major shareholders like Kimbal Musk selling stocks and fears of what President Donald Trump's tariffs could do to the brand, Tesla shares are actually up more than 53% from this time in 2024.
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Tesla might’ve just released a rear-wheel-drive variant for $69,990, but the reception to the 'new' Cybertruck has been pretty frosty, especially as it's accused of removing key features like adaptive suspension, the rear lightbar, and even the bed outlets.
Whether this bad press is a temporary bump in the road or the start of something much worse for the company, Musk vowed to double Tesla's US production rates in the next two years.