The demand for the Cybertruck cools off at Tesla in the North American market

With 2024, which is now about to end, came the most anticipated electric pickup. We are obviously referring to the Tesla Cybertruck. Many of the company’s fans had been waiting for years for this moment, ever since they placed a reservation with the aim of one day parking one of the most disruptive vehicles seen in a long time in their garage.

It is therefore no surprise that the Cybertruck became the best-selling electric pickup in the United States during the second quarter of the year, and the third best-selling electric vehicle in that same country in the following quarter; it was also the best-selling electric vehicle priced above 100,000 dollars during the entire first half of the year.

The overwhelming success of Tesla’s electric pickup seems, however, to be starting to fade as we approach the end of its launch year. A first sign that this is so was reported at the beginning of this very month of December, when, according to some reports, workers on the Tesla electric pickup production line at the Texas Gigafactory were asked not to come to work for three days. A clear signal that demand was not as high as the company’s executives would have liked.

Selling a Cybertruck on the used market takes longer and is a worse deal

Another data point in the same direction, revealed by some media outlets, refers to the significant increase in the average time needed to resell a used Cybertruck. Thus, according to these same outlets, while in May it took around 27 days on average to find a buyer, now in December it is taking around two and a half months.

But that is not the worst of it, since anyone who wants to get rid of their Cybertruck, besides needing considerably more time to find a buyer, will probably get a lower sum than they expected at first. On some American online portals dedicated to buying and selling vehicles, it is already possible to find Cybertrucks with not many miles for around 90,000 dollars, or even less, when their original owners paid in most cases around 120,000 dollars for them.

If we put all these data together -the reduction in production days, the increase in the number of days needed to sell this electric pickup on the used market, the drop in the average selling price and the reduction that Tesla has also applied to new units- it seems more than obvious that the North American manufacturer currently has a demand problem with this model in its lineup. Everything points to the fact that practically everyone who wanted to buy a Cybertruck has already done so, at least in the North American market.

The Cybertruck runs into regulators in Europe

A common way to solve a demand problem like this would be to expand sales into new markets. However, the peculiarities of this electric pickup, in its dimensions and its own construction, make this complicated. Tesla has already been delivering the Cybertruck for some months in Canada as well as Mexico, but it seems very difficult, if not impossible, for sales to also begin in the European market, for example, due to regulatory issues. Something that could be a solution with any other, more conventional vehicle.

It will be interesting to see how Cybertruck sales evolve over the course of the coming year 2025, and what decisions Tesla takes if demand does not reach the expected levels. In any case, whatever happens, we will be here at HighMotor to tell you about it.