Tesla scraps Cybertruck plans for Australia

Tesla has ended the wait for Australian and New Zealand buyers.

The electric vehicle maker officially cancelled its plans to sell the Cybertruck in the region. Reservation holders received emails confirming that their orders are void. Tesla stated that all deposits will be refunded within 30 days. The announcement comes after a long period of uncertainty for customers who placed orders years ago.

Australians began reserving the truck in November 2019. They paid A$150 to secure their spot in line. That was nearly seven years ago. By 2020, crowdsourced data suggested Australia was the third-largest market for reservations, behind the US and Canada. However, Tesla never officially confirmed these regional numbers. Total global reservations reached approximately 2 million by 2023. Despite this demand, the truck never arrived for local buyers.

The core issue is mechanical. The Cybertruck is built exclusively with left-hand controls. Australia and New Zealand require right-hand-drive vehicles. Adapting the truck for these markets would require significant engineering changes. Tesla would also need to certify the vehicle under local design rules. This process is expensive and time-consuming. For a vehicle facing softening demand in North America, the investment became difficult to justify.

Tesla had previously hinted at a launch. In 2024, Elon Musk told shareholders the company might certify the truck for other markets the following year. A display tour brought a unit to the region that same year. But the promised right-hand-drive version never materialized. The company quietly closed the Australian reservation page in May 2022. It replaced the order button with a simple link for updates. At that time, no refunds were issued. Customers were left waiting without clear communication.

Recent sales figures support the decision to cut losses. Tesla reported Q3 2026 earnings just before the cancellation notice went out. The company delivered only 8,295 units in the 'Other Models' category. This group now consists almost entirely of Cybertrucks, as production of the Model S and Model X has ended. Estimates suggest Cybertruck sales were between 7,000 and 8,000 units last quarter. This pace equates to roughly 30,000 units per year. That is far below the production line's capacity of 250,000 units annually.

International expansion has been limited to left-hand-drive markets. Deliveries began in South Korea late last year and the UAE in January. Configurator options opened in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and Israel. The truck remains blocked in the European Union, largely due to pedestrian safety concerns. With global volumes not supporting a specialized right-hand-drive program, Tesla is focusing on existing markets.

Customers who accept the cancellation can choose a new path. Tesla is offering a free one-year subscription to Full Self-Driving (Supervised). This incentive applies if reservation holders purchase a new Model 3 or Model Y instead. These models are built in right-hand drive for the region. The move aims to convert lapsed pickup interest into sales of vehicles that are already available locally.

The cancellation highlights the Cybertruck's niche status. It is becoming a primarily American product. Tesla is unlikely to invest further in international variants. The company is now focused on finding buyers for the standard left-hand-drive model. For the thousands of Australians who waited nearly a decade, the process is finally over.

Next steps involve processing the refunds. Tesla has committed to completing these transactions within 30 days. Customers who choose the Model 3 or Model Y will receive the FSD subscription automatically. No further action is required for those who simply want their money back. The era of the Cybertruck in Oceania is officially closed.