Tesla has about $200 million worth of Cybertrucks in inventory in the US, as the truck is extremely difficult to sell.
A year and a half into production, Cybertruck production has ramped up, and inventory is building up.
Last year, Tesla could blame low Cybertruck deliveries on the production ramp, the more expensive Foundation Series, and the lack of access to the $7,500 tax credit.
All of those excuses are not available to Tesla this year. The Cybertruck is simply proving challenging to sell, and the automaker has to throttle down production to avoid building up too much inventory.
This proved problematic in March as Tesla had to put a containment hold on the Cybertruck in anticipation of a recall of units produced to date over a trim falling off the truck.
At the production level, the fix was introduced on March 21st and Tesla still needs to fix Cybertrucks delivered to customers.
In the meantime, Tesla finds itself holding more Cybertruck inventory than ever, with almost 2,400 Cybertrucks in new inventory available (via Tesla-Info):
That’s around $200 million worth of Cybertrucks.
With Tesla having issues selling new Cybertrucks, the automaker is reportedly not taking any as trade-ins. Many Cybertruck owners reported trying to trade-in the truck for a new vehicle and they were told that the automaker currently doesn’t accept its own vehicle as a trade-in.
Some owners who have had their trucks in service for extended periods of time are also trying to get Tesla to take the truck back, but the company is forcing them to go through the Lemon Law process.
It’s not surprising to see Tesla not wanting to take back used Cybertrucks as their prices are falling fast.
Used Cybertruck prices are down 55% year over year, 13% over the last three months, and 6% over the last month.
As Tesla doesn’t take the Cybertruck as a trade-in, other used car dealers are also reticent about buying the vehicle. They have been known to give low-ball offers to potential sellers as they wait to see where the price will stabilize.
Electrek’s Take
I think we are far from the bottom. With this kind of inventory on hand, I expect Tesla to introduce discounts. The company is likely waiting to completely sell off its Foundation Series inventory before giving bigger discounts on the regular version.
Then, Tesla is expected to launch the RWD at a cheaper price, which is also likely to affect used prices.
That’s all while Tesla is already throttling down Cybertruck production.
I am really curious to see where this vehicle program is going. I know many have already written it off, but who knows? Maybe it can improve it with a mid-cycle update next year, and it can make a comeback?
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