Tesla stuck with $800M of unsold Cybertrucks

Elon Musk and Tesla, already at the heart of controversy due to Musk’s polarizing political stances, are now facing a serious inventory crisis.

In the U.S. alone, nearly 10,000 unsold Cybertrucks are reportedly piling up on dealer parking lots for lack of buyers, despite an unprecedented White House advertising campaign.

The total value of these vehicles in stock is said to be around 800 million US dollars. According to Business Insider, Tesla has asked employees at the Austin plant – working on the Cybertruck and Model Y lines – to stay at home during the week of Memorial Day, a decision considered highly unusual by several internal sources.

Tesla has been facing a number of difficulties in recent months, including a sharp drop in worldwide sales and a deterioration in its public image.

These tensions were heightened by the controversies surrounding its CEO, who was accused of twice performing a Nazi salute at a rally celebrating the inauguration of Donald Trump, as well as his controversial political involvement via the DOGE movement and his public support for the alt-right in Germany, among other things.

Tesla is facing a 13% drop in worldwide sales in the first quarter of 2025, with 336,681 vehicles delivered, marking its weakest performance since 2022.

The Cybertruck, initially highly anticipated, has disappointed: only 35,000 to 50,000 units sold in 2024, far from the million-plus pre-orders announced by Elon Musk himself.