From what I understand, it was never supposed to be a truck, it was supposed to be a tax write-off for businesses. That’s also why it’s stupid ugly and heavy, it has to be 500 or 600 lbs (I forget which) to get the write-off as a truck. The fact that everyone laughs when they see them was unexpected. I think they thought it would be loved by all, especially the businesses.

A new piece from Bloomberg makes the case, comparing the Tesla vehicle to the misfortunes of Ford’s Edsel, which was first introduced in 1957 and discontinued just two years later. After spending years building up hype for the car, Ford predicted selling 200,000 units in its first year, but ended up selling less than a third of that.

That’s comparable to expectations versus reality of the Cybertruck. In fact, the Cybertruck is actually doing worse in key ways. Tesla’s annual sales target was 250,000 units, but it didn’t even crack 40,000 sales in its first year. And like the Edsel, it’s sold less with each successive year, with barely 7,100 registered in the US in 2026 so far, according to S&P Global Mobility data — despite Musk juicing those figures by selling Cybertrucks to his own companies.