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Tesla Sets Mid-2027 to Start Retiring the Cybertruck, Handing Its Texas Floor Space to the Cybercab

Elon Musk said Cybertruck output at Gigafactory Texas will wind down around mid-2027 to make room for Cybercab robotaxis, after quarterly deliveries of the pickup fell 48%.

Written By :MINRK
Tesla Sets Mid-2027 to Start Retiring the Cybertruck, Handing Its Texas Floor Space to the Cybercab

Image by Mr.choppers via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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1. Musk Confirms the End of Cybertruck Production at Gigafactory Texas

Tesla will wind down Cybertruck production at Gigafactory Texas around the middle of 2027, chief executive Elon Musk said in a post on X on November 6, 2026, freeing floor space for more Cybercab robotaxis. The stainless-steel pickup, first delivered in late 2023, has sold far below the capacity of its line, and Tesla's "other models" deliveries fell 48% in the third quarter.

In the post, Musk framed the decision as a question of capacity. The plant's Cybertruck output is to taper off so that the factory can "make room for increased Cybercab production." He gave no exact month, saying only that the change would come around the middle of next year, which leaves roughly eight months of normal production before the wind-down begins.

The announcement drew an immediate reaction from owners and employees. One user replied that the Cybertruck was the best vehicle Tesla had ever built, and Musk answered that the Cybertruck fleet on the road "will be around for a long time." The reply signals that existing trucks are not being abandoned, even though new ones will eventually stop coming off the line.

Wes Morrill, the lead engineer on the Cybertruck, also responded. He described the truck as an incredible platform for developing technology and said it "lives on through Cybercab." He closed by thanking owners and the people who contributed to the program. His comment reinforces the message from Musk: the vehicle's engineering work is being carried forward into the company's robotaxi plans rather than discarded.

2. How Weak Have Cybertruck Sales Been?

The Cybertruck reached customers in late 2023 and has struggled to find enough buyers since. Tesla's third-quarter delivery figures put the vehicle in a catch-all category labeled "other models," which also covers the company's remaining non-core vehicles. Deliveries in that category totaled 8,295 units in the quarter, a drop of 48% from the same period a year earlier.

Those numbers look small against the factory's design. The production line in Texas was built to turn out as many as 250,000 trucks a year. A quarterly figure of 8,295 vehicles, even if every one of them were a Cybertruck, would imply an annual pace of roughly 33,000 units, or about one-eighth of that ceiling. Measured on the more conservative basis that the category includes other models as well, the utilization of the line is lower still. The gap between capacity and demand is the clearest numerical explanation for why the company is reallocating the space.

A production line that sits mostly idle is expensive for any automaker. Tooling, floor area, staffing and supplier commitments all carry fixed costs that are justified only when volumes approach what the line was designed to deliver. When a model sells at a small fraction of capacity for an extended period, redirecting the factory to a product with stronger strategic priority is a conventional response, and Musk's post fits that pattern.

It is also worth noting what the announcement does not say. Musk did not state that the Cybertruck is being discontinued as a product with immediate effect, and he did not describe any change to support for vehicles already delivered. The wind-down is scheduled for around mid-2027, and his remark about the fleet lasting a long time points to continued service for current owners.

3. What Is the Cybercab and Why Does Tesla Want the Space?

The Cybercab is Tesla's purpose-built robotaxi, a two-seat vehicle with no steering wheel and no pedals. Tesla first unveiled it in October 2024. It sits at the center of Musk's effort to change how investors and customers see the company, moving it from a maker of cars toward a business built on artificial intelligence and robotics.

The strategy has been in public view for some time. In April 2025, Musk said Tesla would launch a robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, using Model Y vehicles running its Full Self-Driving software, and that production of Cybercabs would begin in Texas the following year. That sequence has now largely played out: Tesla began producing the Cybercab in April of this year, and the Austin service has added the dedicated vehicle to its operations.

Gigafactory Texas is therefore both the home of the truck and the birthplace of the robotaxi. Giving the Cybercab more of the plant is a direct way of matching floor space to the product the company considers most important. Musk's wording in the announcement, that the change is to "make room for increased Cybercab production," makes that priority explicit.

At the 2024 unveiling, Musk said he expected the Cybercab to cost around $30,000. That target, if met, would place the vehicle well below the price of most Tesla models and far below the price of the Cybertruck, which is a larger, more heavily engineered pickup. A lower unit cost is central to the economics of a robotaxi fleet, because the vehicle is a capital asset that must earn back its price through ride revenue.

4. How Is the Cybercab Rollout Going?

Tesla began offering rides in the Cybercab on September 3, in limited areas of Austin. The vehicle is still at an early stage of deployment: at the time the service launched, 45 Cybercabs had been registered in Texas. That is a very small fleet compared with the scale implied by a factory line designed for hundreds of thousands of vehicles a year.

Regulation is the main open question. Federal motor vehicle rules have generally assumed that a car has human controls such as a steering wheel and pedals, and the Cybercab has neither. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal road safety regulator, said it was "evaluating the situation" after the rides began. The agency's statement does not amount to an approval or a rejection, but it confirms that the vehicle's design raises questions under existing rules.

For Tesla, the pace of any Cybercab expansion therefore depends on more than factory space. Production capacity can be rearranged by management decision, as Musk has now done. Regulatory clearance, however, rests with agencies that set their own timetables. Freeing up the Texas plant does not by itself determine how quickly additional robotaxis can be put on public roads.

Even so, the shift shows where the company expects its future volume to come from. Replacing a slow-selling pickup with a vehicle intended for a fleet service is a bet that demand for autonomous rides will eventually outstrip what the truck could ever deliver. The wind-down date of mid-2027 gives the company a defined window in which to prepare for that transition.

5. What Is the Tesla and SpaceX Merger Idea?

The Cybertruck news arrives while Musk is weighing a combination of Tesla and SpaceX. Earlier this year, SpaceX absorbed xAI, his artificial intelligence company. Last month, the boards of both Tesla and SpaceX formed special committees of independent directors to evaluate a possible merger between the two companies.

If completed, such a deal would bring rockets, satellites, AI models, robots and cars under a single corporate roof. A filing from SpaceX confirmed that any transaction would require approval from its "controlling shareholder," who is Musk himself. That detail is significant because it places Musk on both sides of the decision, which is why independent committees have been created to review it.

Special committees of independent directors are a standard governance tool when a controlling shareholder has an interest in a transaction. Their purpose is to make sure that the terms are assessed by people who do not stand to gain personally from the outcome. The formation of these committees at both companies shows that the idea has moved beyond casual speculation into a formal evaluation, although no agreement has been announced.

Seen in that light, the Cybertruck decision is part of a broader reshaping of Musk's businesses around autonomy, artificial intelligence and robotics. A factory repurposed for the Cybercab sits comfortably inside the narrative of a combined company that would build both the machines and the intelligence that drives them.

6. How Much Bitcoin Would a Combined Company Hold?

A merger would create one of the largest corporate Bitcoin (BTC) treasuries. SpaceX holds 18,712 BTC and Tesla holds 11,509 BTC, giving the two companies a combined 30,221 BTC. At current prices, that stash is worth roughly $2.3 billion.

Bitcoin has been under pressure this week, so the dollar value of that combined position has moved with the market. The token count is the more stable number, and it shows that two of the best-known corporate holders of the asset would be pooling their reserves if the merger proceeded. Tesla was among the first large public companies to place Bitcoin on its balance sheet, and SpaceX's holding is a notable addition to the picture.

Neither company has said that a merger would change how it manages those coins. The point for the crypto market is simply one of scale: a combined entity would hold more than 30,000 BTC under one owner, which would make decisions about holding or selling them more consequential for market sentiment than either company's holding is today.

7. What Does the Decision Mean for Owners and Investors?

For current Cybertruck owners, the practical message is continuity. Musk's statement that the fleet will be around for a long time suggests that service and support for delivered vehicles will continue after production ends. For prospective buyers, the mid-2027 timeline indicates that the window for ordering a new truck is limited, although the company has not published a final production date.

For investors, the announcement is a clear indication of capital allocation. A factory that was built for a high-volume pickup is being redirected toward a product that the chief executive regards as the foundation of the company's future. The sales data explains the logic: with deliveries in the "other models" category down 48% year over year, the Cybertruck is not using the capacity that was set aside for it.

There is also a link to the tokenized-stock market. Both Tesla and SpaceX have blocked their shares from being offered on a tokenized stock venue that is being built by the crypto exchange OKX and ICE, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange. The step shows that the companies are controlling how their equity is represented onchain even as they consider a deeper corporate combination.

8. What Happens Next?

The first date to watch is mid-2027, when Cybertruck production at Gigafactory Texas is scheduled to start winding down. Between now and then, Tesla can be expected to continue building the truck while it increases Cybercab output, with the balance shifting as the transition approaches.

The second track is the merger review. The special committees at Tesla and SpaceX have been formed, and any deal would still need approval from Musk as SpaceX's controlling shareholder. No decision or timetable has been announced.

The third is regulatory. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was evaluating the situation around the Cybercab's lack of human controls, and the outcome will influence how quickly robotaxis can expand beyond the limited Austin service. Together, these three developments will determine whether the Texas plant's new focus translates into a larger autonomous fleet.

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