Tesla ends Cybertruck plans for Australia and New Zealand after long wait

Tesla has officially terminated its plans to sell the Cybertruck in Australia and New Zealand. The company sent emails to reservation holders today informing them that their orders are no longer valid and that their initial deposits will be returned in full. This decision concludes a seven year waiting period for customers who have been holding reservations since late 2019.

The notification email, which began circulating on social media platforms and forums this morning, is brief in its explanation. Tesla stated that after careful review, the production plans for the electric pickup in these two markets have been discontinued. Consequently, the automaker is unable to fulfill the existing reservations. The company confirmed that refunds for all payments made will be processed within thirty days. To soften the blow, Tesla is offering a complimentary one year subscription to Full Self Driving Supervised for any reservation holder who decides to purchase a new Model 3 or Model Y instead.

This move appears to be an effort to convert lapsed pickup truck interest into sales of vehicles that Tesla currently manufactures for right hand drive markets. The timing of the announcement is notable, arriving just one day after Tesla released its financial results for the third quarter of 2026.

The path to this cancellation has been marked by prolonged uncertainty. Australian consumers began reserving the vehicle in November 2019 with a deposit of A$150. While the market size was not the largest globally, it was significant enough to rank third behind the US and Canada in crowdsourced reservation surveys. By 2023, total reservations worldwide had reached approximately two million units. However, Tesla quietly closed the Australian reservation page in May 2022, replacing it with a button to receive updates, without issuing refunds at the time. Customers were left in limbo for four more years.

In 2024, Tesla brought a Cybertruck to Australia for a display tour, and CEO Elon Musk told shareholders that certification for other markets might happen the following year. That year passed without a right hand drive version arriving. The fundamental obstacle remains that the Cybertruck is designed exclusively as a left hand drive vehicle. Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Japan all require right hand drive configurations, and Australia has specific design rules that require certification. Re engineering the truck for these markets represents a substantial financial investment.

The financial logic for such a rework is difficult to justify given current sales volumes. Tesla’s international launches for the Cybertruck have so far been limited to left hand drive markets. Deliveries began in South Korea late last year and in the UAE in January, with configurators opening in several Middle Eastern countries. The vehicle remains blocked from entering the EU largely due to pedestrian safety standards. In North America, demand has cooled, with sales dropping significantly from their 2024 peak.

Data from the third quarter of 2026 shows that Tesla delivered 8,295 units in the 'Other Models' category, which now consists almost entirely of Cybertrucks since the Model S and Model X ended production. Estimates suggest Cybertruck sales are running at a pace of roughly 30,000 units annually. This is far below the production line's capacity of 250,000 units per year. For a financial officer, the return on investment for re engineering the truck for a combined market population of about 33 million people appears insufficient at these volume levels.

This outcome confirms that the Cybertruck is becoming a niche product primarily targeted at the American market. While some local reservation holders may have already cancelled, the official closure provides clarity. Tesla is unlikely to invest further in the vehicle for right hand drive regions and will focus on finding buyers for the existing left hand drive inventory. For now, the wait for an electric pickup in Australia and New Zealand is over, with refunds and new car incentives on the way.