Tesla will have to return Cybertruck deposits to many customers, according to CEO Elon Musk. In an X post on Monday, November 9, Musk said Tesla will shut Cybertruck production in about eight months and will try to build as many trucks as possible before then, according to TechCrunch, CBS News and The Next Web.
What was said about deposits. Musk wrote that Tesla will have to return deposits for a lot of people. TechCrunch’s headline says some deposits, while the quoted line says a lot of people, so the scale is not defined. Other coverage says the order rate is above what the factory can build, and that an extra shift is planned to clear the backlog. No report says how many customers will be refunded, how much money is involved, how refunds will be chosen, or when they will start. The post was not an official customer notice.
The profitability dispute. Musk argued that the Cybertruck was not unprofitable, saying the opportunity cost of the complexity of the Cybertruck is vastly outweighed by the value of extra Cybercab production. Critics have questioned that claim, and no profit figures have been released, according to coverage cited by search results.
The timeline. Eight months from early November points to about mid-2027. Other coverage says production will wind down at the Texas factory around that time, and that the space will go to the two-seat Cybercab robotaxi. TechCrunch’s earlier article last week was titled as stopping in 2027, and the new post does not name a month.
How many were sold. Tesla does not break out Cybertruck sales. TechCrunch says industry experts estimate that about 71,000 have been sold since November 2023, without naming the experts. Musk has said reservations reached 1 million, based on a 2023 earnings call, when a yearly output of about 250,000 was predicted. Those figures show the gap between early demand and actual sales.
Related-party sales. TechCrunch reports that SpaceX bought $131 million of Cybertrucks from Tesla in 2025, according to its filing ahead of its stock listing, and that xAI bought $430 million of Tesla Megapacks before merging with SpaceX. The article does not say whether those sales affect the Cybertruck’s reported results.
Why it matters. Refunds on a high-profile vehicle show how far the truck’s early hype was from its sales. For reservation holders, the key question is whether they will be among those who get a truck or those who get their money back, and when. For Tesla, the move shifts factory capacity toward robotaxis.
What to watch. Look for a formal Tesla notice to reservation holders, the refund process, the exact end-of-production date, and any filing that discloses Cybertruck financials.
Sources: TechCrunch, CBS News and The Next Web. Details are as reported by those outlets and a post by Musk on X.
Tesla Cybertruck (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
