Tesla has cancelled the Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand, ending a wait that began with the truck's 2019 unveiling.
In an email to customers on Friday, the company wrote that "plans to produce the Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand have been discontinued," so it cannot fulfil existing reservations. The truck has also been removed from both countries' Tesla websites, which now list the Model 3, the Model Y and preorders for the Roadster.
Reservation holders had put down a deposit of 150 Australian or New Zealand dollars, which Tesla said it will refund. It is also offering cancelled customers a one-year subscription to Full Self-Driving (Supervised), but only if they buy a new Model 3 or Model Y instead. Despite the name, that system is a driver-assistance feature. The driver still has to pay attention and control the car.
The timeline explains the frustration. Elon Musk first teased the Cybertruck in 2013, and at the 2019 unveiling Tesla planned to start production in late 2021. That date is now five years back, and local buyers have received a refund and a pitch for other models. Tesla's email offered no reason beyond "careful consideration," so the cancellation is as much a gap in the explanation as in the lineup.
Reaction has been mixed. Some enthusiasts are disappointed, but many other EV owners are celebrating, and users of the r/TeslaAustralia subreddit have shed few tears.
The Cybertruck is already on sale in the U.S., where it has been subject to multiple recalls.