Tesla Buries the Cybertruck to Make Room for Cybercabs

Tesla had a brutal two days: the stock dropped 3.3% on November 4 and another 11% on November 5 as Democrats outperformed in the midterms and investors questioned how far Elon Musk can stretch his empire. SpaceX, his rocket, satellite and AI company, slid 9% that Thursday. Both now trade on the same headlines because special committees at each are studying a possible merger.

The rebound came fast. Musk posted on November 6 that Cybertruck output at Gigafactory Texas would wind down around the middle of next year, and on November 9 Tesla expanded robotaxi service to San Antonio — a city where Alphabet's Waymo already runs. Shares rose more than 4% Monday. "We will try to make as many as possible before shutting down the line in about 8 months, but will have to return deposits for a lot of people," Musk wrote on X.

The demand math is ugly. US Cybertruck sales fell 48% last year, landing at 20,237 units, according to Kelley Blue Book — against Musk's old projection of 250,000 a year. Even after the bounce, Tesla was still down about 24% for the year as of the November 5 close.

The third quarter shows why Musk wants the floor space. Revenue was flat at $28.05 billion, with automotive down 3% at $20.56 billion and energy generation and storage off 16% at $2.88 billion. Services and other was the outlier, jumping 33% to $4.61 billion — roughly 16% of revenue — on FSD subscriptions and robotaxi rides. EBIT fell 56%, leaving $718 million, and free cash flow only turned positive because capex came in billions under forecasts.

Next checkpoint: the fourth-quarter report, expected in late January. It should show whether services growth held and whether capex landed near $20 billion. Management has told investors robotaxi will become a significant slice of revenue and profit in 2027.