Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has long buried Cybertruck sales inside a catch-all reporting category, but a quirk in Q3 2026 data finally gave analysts their clearest look yet at the truck’s real performance.
On July 22, 2026, Bloomberg published a piece comparing the Cybertruck to the infamous Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) Edsel, prompting several outlets including Futurism to label the truck the “biggest flop in automotive history.”
Bloomberg noted that Ford introduced the Edsel in 1957, predicted 200,000 units in its first year, sold less than a third of that number, and discontinued it just two years later.
Tesla’s situation drew an even harsher verdict from Bloomberg, with the publication noting the company’s annual Cybertruck sales target was 250,000 units, yet it failed to crack 40,000 sales in its first year.
Tesla groups the Cybertruck into an “Other Models” reporting line alongside the Model S and Model X, but Electrek reported that production of both sedans ended in April, making Q3 the first quarter where the category functions effectively as a Cybertruck-only number.
Tesla delivered 8,295 Other Models in Q3, down from 15,933 a year earlier, a decline of 48% and the category’s lowest figure since Q2 2021, according to Electrek.
Electrek estimates Tesla delivered between 7,000 and 8,000 Cybertruck units during the quarter, a pace the outlet pegs at roughly 30,000 per year, which amounts to just 13% of Musk’s stated 250,000-unit goal.
Three forces helped lift Q3 delivery numbers compared to prior quarters: a cheaper dual-motor trim arrived in late June, gas averaged $4.35 per gallon in early October, and a backlog had accumulated after Tesla told a court in July it had “several thousand Cybertrucks already committed to customers” it could not build during a casting supplier dispute.
With demand showing some movement, Tesla raised prices by $5,000 in August, putting the dual-motor variant at $74,990, even as total volumes remained a small fraction of the company’s original ambitions.
Garrett Nelson of CFRA Research told Bloomberg the truck would more likely “fade away” than be discontinued outright, adding: “It’s possible that they try to do some sort of redesign, or come up with a different variant to try to boost sales, but we think that would really be a futile effort.”
Third-party data from Cox Automotive, cited by Electrek, estimated 3,744 U.S. Cybertruck sales in Q2, while S&P Global Mobility counted just over 7,100 U.S. registrations in 2026 so far, with 1,339 of Q4 2025’s registrations going to SpaceX and other Musk-affiliated companies.
Despite its struggles, Cox Automotive still ranked the Cybertruck ahead of the discontinued Ford F-150 Lightning at 2,421 units, the Chevy Silverado EV at 2,266, and the R1T from Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ: RIVN) at 1,219, a comparison that reflects broader weakness across the electric pickup segment.
Tesla’s overall Q3 delivery figures of 486,532 vehicles beat analyst expectations of 456,600 cited by Ars Technica, though total deliveries still represented a 2.1% year-over-year decline.
Shares jumped 5% following the broader delivery report, trading at $379.81 at 11:00 AM ET on October 12, though the stock remains down 15.55% year to date, according to CNBC.
The window for clarity on Cybertruck-specific figures may be closing, as Electrek notes the Tesla Semi production is ramping at a Nevada plant capable of building 50,000 trucks annually, with those units also landing inside the Other Models category and obscuring the Cybertruck numbers within a few quarters.
