Tesla Shelves Cybertruck Plans Down Under
Reservation holders in Australia and New Zealand are receiving notices that their orders for the electric pickup are void, ending a wait that began in 2019.
By John Ferrari ·
Tesla has officially terminated plans to produce the Cybertruck for the Australian and New Zealand markets. Reservation holders in the region received notifications on October 23, 2026, confirming that their orders have been cancelled. The company stated, "After careful consideration, plans to produce Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand have been discontinued." As a result, the automaker is unable to fulfill existing reservations and will be issuing refunds for all payments made.
The refund process is slated to be completed within 30 days. For customers who wish to remain with the brand, Tesla is offering a consolation incentive: a free one-year subscription to FSD (Supervised) for those who choose to order a new Model 3 or Model Y instead. This move effectively redirects potential buyers toward right-hand drive vehicles that are currently in production. The emails were distributed shortly after Tesla reported its third-quarter 2026 earnings.
The decision brings a close to a reservation period that began in November 2019, when buyers in Australia first started placing A$150 deposits. Data from 2020 indicated that Australia represented the third-largest market for Cybertruck reservations, trailing only the United States and Canada. By 2023, crowdsourced tracking figures had estimated total global reservations for the vehicle at approximately 2 million.
The path to this cancellation involved a long period of silence regarding production timelines. Tesla disabled the Australian reservation page in May 2022, replacing it with a button to receive updates, but did not refund deposits at that time. In 2024, while touring a vehicle down under, Elon Musk suggested to shareholders that the truck might be certified for other markets "sometime next year." However, no right-hand drive version of the Cybertruck was ever developed.
The primary hurdle remains the vehicle's manufacturing configuration. The Cybertruck is built exclusively in left-hand drive, whereas Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Japan require right-hand drive models. Additionally, vehicles entering Australia must undergo certification under domestic design rules, a process that requires significant investment.
The financial case for developing a right-hand drive variant is further weakened by current production volumes. In the third quarter of 2026, Tesla delivered 8,295 units in its "Other Models" category, a group now comprised almost entirely of Cybertruck inventory. This pace suggests an annual rate of roughly 30,000 units, a figure that falls far short of the 250,000 units per year the production line was designed to handle.
While the Cybertruck remains available in markets such as South Korea, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and Israel, all of those regions utilize left-hand drive configurations. The vehicle is currently blocked from the European Union, primarily due to pedestrian safety regulations. Consequently, the production of a right-hand drive variant for Australia and New Zealand cannot be justified by current demand metrics.
