Tesla returns 2 million Cybertruck deposits after seven-year wait in Australia and New Zealand

Tesla has cancelled all Cybertruck reservations for Australia and New Zealand, returning deposits to approximately two million customers. The move ends a wait of nearly seven years for buyers who reserved the electric pickup in left-hand-drive markets that require right-hand-drive vehicles.

Reservation holders began receiving notification emails on October 23. The messages state that Tesla is 'unable to fulfil your reservation and it will be cancelled.' The company confirmed that full refunds of all payments will be processed within 30 days. Customers who choose to order a new Model 3 or Model Y instead will receive a one-year subscription to Full Self-Driving (Supervised).

Australians could reserve the truck starting in November 2019 with a 150 Australian dollar deposit. By 2023, crowdsourced tracking data estimated total regional reservations at roughly 2 million. A 2020 survey suggested Australia held about 3% of all global reservations, though Tesla never officially confirmed these regional figures. The emails arrived one day after Tesla released its third-quarter 2026 earnings report.

The primary barrier to the truck’s release was the lack of a right-hand-drive model. The Cybertruck is manufactured exclusively in left-hand drive, which conflicts with regulations in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Tesla also faced the cost of local design certification in Australia. In 2024, CEO Elon Musk told shareholders that certification for other markets might occur the following year, but no right-hand-drive version was produced.

Tesla’s international rollout has so far been limited to left-hand-drive countries. Deliveries began in South Korea in late 2025 and in the United Arab Emirates in January 2026. Configurator options later appeared for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and Israel. The vehicle remains blocked from the European Union primarily due to pedestrian safety concerns.

Domestic sales figures suggest a limited market for the vehicle. Tesla delivered 8,295 'Other Models' in the third quarter of 2026, a category now consisting almost entirely of Cybertrucks since Model S and Model X production ceased. Estimates place quarterly Cybertruck sales between 7,000 and 8,000 units, or about 30,000 annually, against a production line capacity of 250,000. Australia and New Zealand have a combined population of approximately 33 million people.

The company quietly closed the Australian reservation page in May 2022, replacing it with an update request button without issuing refunds at the time. In 2024, Tesla shipped a single Cybertruck to Australia for a display tour. US sales for the vehicle have dropped from approximately 39,000 units in 2024.