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Tesla has officially launched the Cybertruck in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as the automaker seeks to expand the electric pickup truck’s availability in new markets following disappointing demand in the US.
For its first year of production, Cybertruck was limited to the North American market, and it has been a commercial flop.
Tesla had accumulated over 1 million reservations for the vehicle and planned for a production capacity of 250,000 units per year, with CEO Elon Musk saying that it could be increased to 500,000 units.
After Tesla unveiled the production version with a much higher price than initially announced and a significantly shorter range, demand plummeted, and now Tesla is struggling to sell the truck at a rate of 25,000 units per year – a tenth of the production capacity.
Over the past few months, the automaker has been expanding Cybertruck availability to select overseas markets in an effort to utilize a portion of its unused production capacity.
In August, Tesla announced that Cybertruck is coming to South Korea, with reservations being converted to orders.
Last month, the automaker also announced the planned launch of the Cybertruck in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Now, Tesla has announced that it is starting to take orders in the UAE, but also in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
In Saudi Arabia, the Cybertruck starts at 435,000 Saudi Riyal, which is the equivalent of about $116,000 USD:
Tesla says that deliveries are planned for March 2026.
Electrek’s Take
Saudi Arabia and Qatar are both heavily invested in Elon’s ventures, and there’s a significant amount of money involved.
However, there’s so much money that many people who already wanted a Cybertruck were able to import them themselves already.
I believe these overseas markets can help Tesla boost Cybertruck volumes by 20% over the next 12 months.
That’s not enough to save the program.
The only thing that could be a next-gen vehicle that brings the capabilities and price closer to what Tesla originally announced in 2019.
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