20,337 Total Cybertruck Sales in 2025 -- #2 EV truck, #12 EV overall (Cox Report)

[YDR37]

Truck owners are probably the most conservative car-buying demographic out there. The most likely to embrace anti-EV dogma. The least likely to objectively consider an EV of any sort. And particularly disinclined to accept a vehicle that looks radically different from what they think of as a proper truck.

I don't think it's just about towing, range, but also perception of EVs. The Pickup buyers, historically, are the most against them. Plus, all but the F150L have pretty polarizing looks, with the CT being the most polarizing.

I think this is true -- if you are talking about full-size truck owners. The F-150, Silverado, Ram crowd. Suspect that they skew older, rural, and less open to new tech.

But I also think it might be significantly different with small truck owners: the Tacoma, Maverick, Santa Cruz crowd. Suspect that they skew younger, urban/suburban, and more open to new tech. And literally no one has tried to sell EV trucks to those folks yet.

Here in California, EVs are way more popular than in the rest of the country, and the same is true with smaller trucks: the Tacoma outsells the F-150 and the Silverado. It's crazy that no one has ever marketed a small EV truck here.

The small EV trucks are finally coming. Slate will probably be the first, potentially as soon as late 2026. Ford and Kia could follow in 2027. Wouldn't surprise me if smaller inexpensive EV trucks easily outsell the older, more expensive full-size versions, in the same way that the Models 3/Y easily outsell the older Models S/X.

Globally, the mid-sized Toyota Hilux EV and KGM Musso EV are already hitting markets in Asia, Europe, and Australia. Those models won't be sold in the US/Canada though.

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[PungoteagueDave]

Best-selling EV trucks in the US by calendar year:

2021: Rivian R1T
2022: Rivian R1T
2023: Ford F-150 Lightning
2024: Tesla Cybertruck
2025: Ford F-150 Lightning

For 2026, the CT has to be the early favorite, given the discontinuation of the Lightning. Although if you consider the Silverado/Sierra as the same thing, the total is approaching the CT.

The wild card for 2026 is the potential arrival of new players. The Ram REV and the Slate are both still scheduled to hit the market later in 2026. But they probably won't be available in large volumes this year, so it's unlikely that they could be best-sellers.

"early favorite" in a race between midgets. EV truck sales aren't relevant to anything at this point in the big picture.

 

[Sjohnson20]

It’s easy Tesla and Ford and GM went for the full size truck market because that’s the segment that sells millions per year. They forgot to figure out if full size truck buyers actually wanted EVs.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

S


Does Tesla really care now at this point? Or are they just going to accept that the CT is like the S/X? Low volume, high margins. I do hope they try to sell more CTs to the masses and they are able to drop the price, add more trims, and incentives.

BTW, it's kind of surprising how many R1S vehicles Rivian sells...things ain't cheap.

The real question is continued viability at all - not continuance at low volumes. CT sales continue to drop. It has become a case study in product development and marketing failure.

Tesla geared up a unique production line for the CT that isn't easily repurposed. But even that doesn't matter much. The bigger issue for us current owners is the fact that Tesla has a significant continuing development obligation for a product that isn't selling and never sold at the levels to which they committed engineering resources and manufacturing infrastructure - yet they've promised software and features to all existing owners - features that do not yet exist, and they must deliver on that even though there is little or no incremental revenue for doing so.

Those few of us with bidirectional charging installed but not yet operating need to be made whole one way or another. Tesla is again delaying but still promising, after multiple prior delays, to deliver on ths contractual commitment. But they clearly have losses in the CT program and need to prioritize other projects. So the question becomes how much talent do they apply, and how do they continue to support a failed project? Not failed? Try again. Tesla sells more MYs every month than they have sold CTs in its entire run. Where do you put new money? Not on the redheaded stepchild. This is already seen in the abandoned range extender program, which many of us counted on for towing, and which Tesla sold as an actual feature. You may love the CT, I may love the CT, and Elon clearly loves the CT. But is simply isn't a business model that can survive as is.

Ford cut their losses on the Lightning but has a much lower accrued support and development obligation. No organization wants to continue developing product features for an orphaned product. And yes, the CT is effectively already an orphan. Further significant updates and refresh programs are a nonstarter, just based on basic corporate competence. In a couple years owning a CT will be akin to using a 2015 iphone (the year they introduced the iphone 6). Apple no longer supports that phone, officially classifies it as obsolete, and the latest ios version it can run is 15. Not just orphaned, but left for dead. Unless there's a dramatic rabbit-in-the-hat-pulling event, I fear we are headed to the same place with the CT.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

In the 5 years after the Cybertruck was announced the price of every truck went up. *I* hoped Tesla would honor the original pricing as much as anyone, and really thought they would, and that they would honor the original feature set, but I have to say that the car I got exceeded what I signed up for.

I just don’t think that the sales numbers are even close to a price-only consideration. It is a LOT of bad press, a LOT of Elon turning the world against Tesla and EVs, and some inflation and job security. People are still buying cars and trucks; they’ve just pivoted against Tesla and BEVs.

You can still purchase a new full-size 3/4-ton super-duty pickup truck for under $40k. Rubber floor mats, etc, but I just did it for my farm - a new 2025 F-250 gasoline version with no options, that can tow 16,000 pounds hundreds of miles on a tank. MSRP was $46k for base model XL, but with discounts came to $39k with fees, before taxes. That was the market Tesla missed by getting too fancy with base specs. Cast structures? Stainless exterior? Doomed from the get-go for fleet or 'real' truck users like our farm. I love mine, but in reality its a luxury car that can do some truck things, not a real truck.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

You can still purchase a new full-size 3/4-ton super-duty pickup truck for under $40k. Rubber floor mats, etc, but I just did it for my farm - a new 2025 F-250 gasoline version with no options, that can tow 16,000 pounds hundreds of miles on a tank. MSRP was $46k for base model XL, but with discounts came to $39k with fees, before taxes. That was the market Tesla missed by getting too fancy with base specs. Cast structures? Stainless exterior? Doomed from the get-go for fleet or 'real' truck users like our farm. I love mine, but in reality its a luxury car that can do some truck things, not a real truck.

Hmmm. The bare bones thing you describe is not what I was doing. I took the features in the Cybertruck and did my best to match them in both ICE and BEV versions, and I always came up within $5K plus or minus. You went the other way; you stripped the features down to a minimum set and found no Cybertruck version that was comparable. Both approaches are valid but there was never going to be a Cybertruck with such features so that isn’t a very fair comparison to make. I am not going to argue for the features you find useless but, to me, those were must haves. Do I need to haul things hundreds of miles? No. Do I need to haul things daily? Yes. I know a LOT of people that drive full-sized pickups that never use them as you do. They are the ones buying high-end Fords, GMs, Chevys, Toyotas, etc.

But none of this takes a bite at the sales numbers. By all rights those people should be buying high-end full-sized pickups should be buying Cybertrucks in much larger numbers.

 

[YDR37]

It’s easy Tesla and Ford and GM went for the full size truck market because that’s the segment that sells millions per year. They forgot to figure out if full size truck buyers actually wanted EVs.

Well, you can see how that oversight might happen with Tesla. Elon Musk has famously declared that "I don't do focus groups" and "I do zero market research whatsoever".

But it seems more surprising with Ford and GM. I would expect that they actually do talk to truck buyers.

 

[kpanda17]

traditional full size ICEv pickup truck buyers will be the last to move to EV pickups

I have them in my family
Gassers

takes a certain mindset to want electric everything
Some of us are all in, multiple EVs, solar, batteries, heat pumps

those traditional PU buyers just don’t want it
Agree, not sure what market research was used
But lucky for us, we have the cybertruck
If decided again, Tesla probably would not do it

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

S


Does Tesla really care now at this point? Or are they just going to accept that the CT is like the S/X? Low volume, high margins. I do hope they try to sell more CTs to the masses and they are able to drop the price, add more trims, and incentives.

BTW, it's kind of surprising how many R1S vehicles Rivian sells...things ain't cheap.

It isn't like the S/X. The lack of demand is artificial for the Cybertruck but the demand for S/X has always been relatively low. Rivian sales/problems/stability kind of says it all. The Cybertruck 'should' be selling but isn't. As for the the other auto makers and EVs, they were reading the tea leaves correctly. China was/is going EV and the U.S. automakers have lost that market. Europe has a No-ICE mandate in 10 years and if U.S. automakers don't show up they will have lost that market as well. They clearly never 'wanted' to make EVs, and now the MSM and the administration are down on EVs and that makes it easy for them to skuttle their EV plans/models for ICE and Hybrid models. Personally, I am hoping that when the cork comes off the bottle the Cybertruck will sell big. I hope that Tesla sees it that way.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

traditional full size ICEv pickup truck buyers will be the last to move to EV pickups

I have them in my family
Gassers

takes a certain mindset to want electric everything
Some of us are all in, multiple EVs, solar, batteries, heat pumps

those traditional PU buyers just don’t want it
Agree, not sure what market research was used
But lucky for us, we have the cybertruck
If decided again, Tesla probably would not do it

Agreed that we an all be glad/thankful that we got our Cybertrucks and that it is built to last a long time. I for one have no intention of buying another vehicle in my lifetime.

 

[SCTesla]

The Cybertruck 'should' be selling but isn't.

Why do you believe this?

BEV trucks just don't have a market, especially ones that are over $70k.

Until that changes, I don't see any BEV trucks selling well.

 

[Setok]

"early favorite" in a race between midgets. EV truck sales aren't relevant to anything at this point in the big picture.

I'm still convinced it's not the "EV truck" aspect itself that's a problem. It's price. If the Cybertruck had come out at the original prices, it would have completely disrupted the market. As it is, not so much. Yes, there are other vehicles in that price range too, but many of them don't sell in big numbers. The price increase was not just a bit of a nudge, it was significant, into a whole different vehicle category.

So the miscalculation, or lie, was pitching this at that price level, seeing a lot of (justified) interest, and assuming it would be a big volume product.

All of that coupled with a widespread new dislike of the CEO, and it's a tough sell.

Other lower volume EVs have been mentioned, but they also have global sales to back them up.

If a decent EV truck comes out in the 40–50K price range, I'm confident it will sell very well.

 

[SCTesla]

I'm still convinced it's not the "EV truck" aspect itself that's a problem. It's price. If the Cybertruck had come out at the original prices, it would have completely disrupted the market. As it is, not so much. Yes, there are other vehicles in that price range too, but many of them don't sell in big numbers. The price increase was not just a bit of a nudge, it was significant, into a whole different vehicle category.

So the miscalculation, or lie, was pitching this at that price level, seeing a lot of (justified) interest, and assuming it would be a big volume product.

All of that coupled with a widespread new dislike of the CEO, and it's a tough sell.

Other lower volume EVs have been mentioned, but they also have global sales to back them up.

If a decent EV truck comes out in the 40–50K price range, I'm confident it will sell very well.

As others have pointed out, the way to get around poor reception of EVs is to just make them stupid cheap. Yes, a 50k for the AWD with the original package promised would be a hot seller. Same with 40k for a single motor or even 70k for the beast with 500+ miles of range, but the CT was much more expensive to make than Tesla thought.

 

[BlueLightning]

Can’t strip down the AWD and expect it to sell for 5k-10k cheaper. Maybe as is but you start taking out standard Tesla tech and your stuck with the RWD Long Range that was cancelled.

Should have kept quantity over quality and sold them for the 2019 prices $39k, 49k and $69k and Maybe we would have hit the “ assumed” 250k per year.

Never going to happen no mater what incentives Tesla throws now!

Update, this forum might be why the sales are so low…people are holding out on all these competitors ads? LOL!

 

[kpanda17]

Cheap is Slate
We don’t want Slate

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