Tesla’s bold gamble on the futuristic, polarizing Cybertruck appears to be crumbling under the weight of its own ambition. Despite slashing prices by over $10,000 in a last-ditch effort to move inventory, the number of unsold Cybertrucks has exploded to over 10,000 units, representing more than $800,000,000 in dormant capital.
For a company already reeling from falling sales and a battered stock price, the Cybertruck has shifted from a symbol of innovation to what some are now calling the auto industry’s most expensive misfire in decades.
According to recent inventory data compiled by Tesla-Info.com and reported by Electrek editor-in-chief Fred Lambert, the Cybertruck program is now officially in crisis. Just weeks ago, reports estimated that approximately 2,400 Cybertrucks—roughly $200,000,000 in value—were sitting unsold, drawing widespread concern.
That number has since ballooned at an alarming rate. Inventory levels rose to nearly 6,000 by mid-April, and have now breached the 10,000 mark. Lambert warned the real number may be even higher, as Tesla often consolidates listings of identical vehicles, meaning multiple units could be represented by just one listing.
The dramatic spike in inventory coincided with a wave of new discounting by Tesla in a desperate attempt to salvage demand. Price cuts have reportedly varied across regions and configurations, with some exceeding $10,000, prompting Tesla to repost listings and create new ones for each unique pricing scenario.
However, instead of triggering a sales revival, the discounts only revealed the underlying problem: consumers simply aren’t buying the Cybertruck.
Industry observers say this isn’t just a temporary sales hiccup. This is structural demand failure—potentially catastrophic for a product Elon Musk once touted as Tesla’s next great innovation. Designed to look like something out of a dystopian sci-fi film, the Cybertruck’s angular stainless-steel exterior was meant to break the mold of traditional pickup design and attract a younger, tech-savvy buyer.
But critics argue the truck’s style is more alienating than appealing, and its high price tag—ranging from around $80,000 to well over $100,000 for premium versions—has made it unattainable for most Americans, especially in an era of rising interest rates and economic anxiety.
In April, Forbes dubbed the Cybertruck “Elon’s Edsel,” likening it to the infamous Ford flop of the 1950s that became shorthand for market failure. That analogy may now be generous. According to Fred Lambert, a longtime Tesla follower who has recently soured on the company, the Cybertruck’s nosedive could become one of the worst commercial flops in the modern history of the auto industry.
“This is about as bad as it gets,” Lambert wrote, pointing out that the current glut of unsold trucks represents about 25% of all Cybertrucks ever sold and rivals Tesla’s total unit sales across two full quarters.
The market context only makes matters worse. Tesla has been hemorrhaging sales globally. The company’s overall sales dropped last year even as the global electric vehicle (EV) market grew, indicating that Tesla is not just underperforming—it’s losing ground to competitors.
High sticker prices across its vehicle lineup have pushed many buyers to cheaper alternatives offered by Chinese EV giants like BYD and Geely, or even traditional automakers like Ford and Hyundai, which have made major strides in EV production.
But price isn’t Tesla’s only problem. A growing number of Americans are turning away from Tesla over CEO Elon Musk’s increasingly political persona. His alignment with president Donald Trump, and especially his role in Trump’s newly formed DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), has alienated progressive and environmentally-conscious buyers—the very demographic Tesla once owned.
Many EV enthusiasts now say they are unwilling to support a brand so tightly interwoven with far-right politics and online conspiracies.
Trump’s new wave of tariffs has added another layer of difficulty for Tesla. His protectionist trade policy has hammered tech stocks broadly, but Tesla’s exposure to international markets, supply chains, and regulatory credit schemes has made it especially vulnerable.
One of Trump’s proposed policies would eliminate emissions credits, a cornerstone of Tesla’s profit engine that has generated billions of dollars over the past decade. Without those credits, Tesla faces a massive hole in its balance sheet just as its flagship product flounders.
What’s even more alarming is that the Cybertruck’s production line may already be stalling. Lambert suggests that Tesla has likely throttled back production significantly, if not halted it altogether. “It already looks like Tesla has slowed Cybertruck production down to a crawl,” he wrote, speculating that a full production pause may be imminent.
Given the scale of the unsold inventory, continuing to churn out more units would only deepen the problem.
The Cybertruck was supposed to be a game-changer for Tesla—a bold step into the lucrative U.S. pickup truck market dominated by the Ford F-150 and RAM. But its entry has been marred by safety issues, erratic build quality, and recalls. Several early units were returned by owners citing problems ranging from panel gaps to acceleration malfunctions.
Others criticized the truck’s poor visibility and difficulty handling standard road conditions. The vehicle’s radical design may look unique, but its performance has not lived up to the hype, and consumers are no longer dazzled by gimmicks when the product fails basic expectations.
From a financial standpoint, $800,000,000 in unsold inventory is not just a number—it’s a massive capital sink. That’s nearly a billion dollars in finished goods sitting idle, depreciating rapidly while bleeding overhead costs from warehousing, marketing, and lost opportunity.
In a tight-margin industry like automotive manufacturing, inventory inefficiency of this scale is not merely a temporary setback—it’s a strategic crisis.
Tesla’s stock has reflected this deepening disarray. Shares have plummeted in recent weeks, making Tesla one of the worst-performing major tech stocks of 2025. Investors who once looked to Tesla as the cornerstone of their tech portfolios are now quietly offloading their positions, and some are calling for Elon Musk to step aside as CEO in order to stabilize the company and restore consumer trust.
The prospect of a shareholder revolt is becoming increasingly realistic as Tesla struggles to explain how its most-hyped product is now a billion-dollar liability.
Meanwhile, Musk has remained publicly defiant, doubling down on his controversial public statements and continuing to promise a bright future filled with robotaxis, humanoid AI workers, and Martian colonies. But Wall Street is growing tired of promises. Tesla’s core business—building and selling cars—is what pays the bills.
And right now, one of its most important bets is failing in full view of the market.
Tesla’s leadership has not provided a clear explanation for the Cybertruck’s weak performance or the growing inventory levels. The company has not issued new guidance or addressed investor concerns directly, leaving a vacuum of uncertainty that has only fueled more speculation.
Some analysts suggest that Tesla may have misjudged the market size for such an unconventional vehicle. Others believe the truck’s rollout was rushed, with supply chains and service infrastructure not ready to support the model.
Regardless of the root cause, the message is now unavoidable: the Cybertruck has become a problem Tesla cannot ignore. With over 10,000 units piling up and $800,000,000 on the line, the company faces one of the biggest strategic challenges in its history. For Elon Musk, who once mocked critics and called short-sellers “fools,” the reckoning may finally be here.
The market is no longer amused, and the clock is ticking.
Do you think Tesla can recover from this Cybertruck collapse? Or is this the beginning of a larger unraveling for Musk’s EV empire?
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