Tesla Cybertruck Sales Are In The Toilet

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Good morning! It's Tuesday, October 14, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your regular roundup of nan apical automotive headlines from astir nan world, successful 1 place. This is wherever you'll find nan astir important stories that are shaping nan measurement Americans thrust and get around.

In this morning's edition, Tesla Cybertruck income person fallen disconnected a cliff, GM has incurred a monolithic $1.6 cardinal complaint for its EV business, Ford is cutting accumulation for 5 trucks pursuing that aluminum works fire, and China is hitting U.S.-owned ships pinch larboard fees arsenic retaliation for tariffs.

Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock

Who could person seen this coming? Tesla Cybertruck income person wholly tanked — falling by much than half successful conscionable a year. Tesla apparently sold astir 5,400 Cybertrucks successful nan 3rd quarter. That's still acold excessively many, but it does correspond a 62.6% driblet from nan aforesaid clip past year, according to information from Cox Automotive.

This fall, alternatively stunningly, comes contempt nan truth that Tesla — and nan broader EV marketplace arsenic a full — had a record-setting Q3 arsenic buyers snatched up electrical cars earlier nan national EV taxation in installments expired. In immoderate case, it's conscionable further impervious that CEO Elon Musk's speculation that Tesla could extremity up building a 4th cardinal Cybertrucks a year was thing but junk marketing. From Business Insider:

Nearly 2 years aft its launch, nan stainless steel-clad pickup is obscurity adjacent that lofty target, pinch Tesla having sold astir 16,000 Cybertrucks truthful acold successful 2025.

The futuristic electrical pickup is besides lagging down Ford's F-150 Lightning, its main rival. Ford sold 10,000 Lightnings successful nan 3rd quarter, according to Cox data.

Tesla has struggled to find a marketplace for nan Cybertruck. Early versions of nan electrical motortruck went for astir $100,000 erstwhile it launched successful November 2023, good supra nan $39,990 starting value Musk advertised astatine its 2019 unveiling.

I'll show you what, folks, this isn't shocking. There are a cardinal reasons why nan Cybertruck hasn't been a bully seller, but to prevention everyone time, I'll item nan main one. The biggest logic nan Cybertruck doesn't waste is because of Musk himself. Elon is nan Cybertruck and nan Cybertruck is Elon. The 2 are linked astatine nan hip, and nary different conveyance successful Tesla's lineup much personifies Elon Musk than nan Cybertruck. When group spot a Model Y aliases Model 3 connected nan road, for nan astir part, they don't deliberation astir Musk. However, erstwhile they spot a Cybertruck, it's nan first point connected their mind. The 2nd point is, "Oh God, get that distant from me."

Oh, it besides doesn't thief that it's unsafe, unreliable, expensive, impractical, and ugly.

General Motors

General Motors incurred a monolithic $1.6 cardinal electrical conveyance finance measure successful nan 3rd quarter, according to authorities filings, and it comes arsenic nan automaker plans to increase accumulation of gas-powered vehicles astatine respective of its assembly plants crossed nan U.S. That measure chiefly comes from unused instrumentality that was meant for EV production, totaling $1.2 billion. The remaining $400 cardinal is what it owes suppliers for statement cancellation fees.

To header pinch nan smaller-than-expected EV market, GM has made rather a fewer accumulation changes. The institution has trim shifts and laid disconnected hundreds of workers astatine its Factory Zero EV plant, and galore will stay connected furlough done nan extremity of nan twelvemonth astatine nan very least. From the Detroit Free Press:

"General Motors Company made important investments and contractual commitments successful nan improvement of electrical vehicles to thief nan company's conveyance fleet comply pinch emissions and substance system regulations that were scheduled to go progressively stringent," publication nan filing. "Following caller U.S. authorities argumentation changes, including nan termination of definite user taxation incentives for EV purchases and nan simplification successful nan stringency of emissions regulations, we expect nan take complaint of EVs to slow," nan filing continued. "Our strategical realignment of EV capacity does not effect today's unit portfolio of Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac EVs presently successful production, and we expect these models to stay disposable to consumers."

[...]

GM changed nan position of 900 workers connected impermanent layoff to "indefinite" layoff past period astatine nan Fairfax Assembly works successful Kansas City, Kansas, while it retools nan works for accumulation of nan gas-powered Equinox.

GM has said successful nan past that nan reassessment of its EV capacity and manufacturing footprint is ongoing. This includes investments successful artillery constituent manufacturing.

There is immoderate bully news for folks who wish to spot an electrical GM future.

Just because nan institution is claiming nan EV accumulation capacity arsenic a loss, it doesn't mean that its instrumentality isn't being used, nor that it will ne'er beryllium utilized again, according to Sam Abuelsamid, vice president astatine Telemetry. It's conscionable not successful usage astatine afloat capacity.

GM has "invested galore billions of dollars successful this equipment, and aggregate factories successful Detroit, Spring Hill (Tennessee), and Ramos (Mexico) arsenic good arsenic nan artillery plants and propulsion plants — and they're being underutilized," Abuelsamid said. "All of these things added together, nan worth of nan assets is little than what they had listed connected their equilibrium sheet."

In nan 2nd 4th of 2025, GM reported a nett income of $1.89 cardinal — a 35% driblet compared to nan aforesaid clip a twelvemonth ago. It tin thank President Donald Trump and his tariff crusade for taking a $1.1 cardinal portion of that pastry away. The automaker is expected to merchandise its Q3 net connected October 21.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

Ford is temporarily cutting accumulation of astatine slightest 5 incredibly important vehicles following a monolithic occurrence astatine an aluminum supplier works successful September. The Blue Oval will not beryllium producing nan Expedition and Lincoln Navigator astatine its Kentucky Truck Plant because of issues pinch aluminum supply, according to a United Auto Workers official. The region is group to past a week.

Ford says it's moving intimately with Novelis, nan aluminum supplier whose upstate New York works burned past month, while besides "exploring each imaginable alternatives to minimize immoderate imaginable disruptions." Right now, it's expected that Novelis will beryllium offline until early adjacent year. When you see nan truth that nan works supplies astir 40% of nan aluminium expanse utilized by nan U.S. car industry, it's a existent disaster. From The Wall Street Journal:

Ford is nan plant's biggest customer. Its F-150 pickup, nan top-selling motortruck successful nan U.S. and nan automaker's main profit driver, is 1 of nan industry's biggest users of aluminum.

After nan fire, analysts warned that Ford was astatine consequence of losing up to $1 cardinal of operating profit if accumulation of F-series pickups was lost. So far, Ford is capable to support making those trucks—including its highly profitable F-series Super Duty pickups—at nan works successful Kentucky.

[...]

[A] UAW charismatic told members successful a Facebook station Monday that nan Kentucky works producing nan Super Duty pickups "may tally short today, tonight, and perchance complete nan adjacent fewer shifts."

Ford is already facing $2 cardinal successful costs related to President Trump's tariff policies and $5 cardinal successful losses by its electric-vehicle portion this year. While nan Novelis works successful upstate New York isn't expected to resume accumulation of automotive-grade aluminum expanse until March aliases April, nan institution is looking to import aluminum from different countries.

To sphere its precarious aluminum supply, Ford besides stopped activity astatine its different assembly works successful Louisville past week. Production of nan Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair resumed this week pinch only 1 of 2 shifts operating. The automaker besides idled its works successful Dearborn that produced nan F-150 Lightning because of nan aforesaid issue.

I do not envy nan position Ford is successful correct now.

Cheng Xin/Getty Images

China is not pleased pinch President Donald Trump's tariff tactics, truthful it's turning up nan power connected U.S.-based ships docked astatine its ports. The state has started collecting typical larboard fees from U.S.-owned, operated, built, aliases flagged vessels, but it says that Chinese-built ships would beryllium exempt from nan levies. From Reuters:

The specifications published by CCTV explain nan circumstantial provisions connected exemptions, including for ships built by China, quiet ships entering Chinese shipyards for repair, and different ships that are deemed exempted from payment.

China's carrier ministry announced past week that it would slap nan caller larboard fees arsenic a countermeasure to U.S. larboard fees connected China-linked ships starting nan aforesaid day.

Following nan announcement, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was raising tariffs connected Chinese imports to 100% from November 1 and imposing export controls connected captious package successful reprisal for China expanding its export limits connected uncommon world minerals.

The typical larboard fees will beryllium collected astatine nan first larboard of introduction connected a azygous voyage aliases for nan first 5 voyages wrong nan year, CCTV said, adding that nan yearly billing rhythm will statesman connected April 17.

Failure to salary nan fees will lead to stalled import and export procedures for nan ship, nan authorities media said.

It seems we're reaching nan "find out" shape of Trump's crippled of chickenhearted erstwhile it comes to tariffs.

Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik

While I was penning TMS today, nan fella who won my 2007 BMW Z4 connected Cars & Bids past week came and picked it up. It's a profoundly bittersweet infinitesimal for me. On 1 hand, I loved this car. It was my first existent capacity car. It's really I learned to thrust stick. It's — I deliberation — portion of nan logic I was hired here, and it helped support maine entertained during nan canine days of nan Covid lockdown. On nan different hand, we're surviving successful a world that is getting much and much expensive, and immoderate other money successful my pouch ne'er hurts. Plus, frankly, I conscionable didn't thrust it enough. In my complete 5 years of ownership, I put conscionable 9,700 miles connected nan car, and nan immense mostly of those came earlier March of 2022. That really ate maine up inside. This is simply a awesome car to drive, and it spent astir of its clip nether a screen successful my parents' driveway. The caller proprietor tells maine he's going to beryllium dailying nan car, which is awesome to hear.

Goodbye, my small Z4, and convey you.

History.com

Can you moreover ideate what it was for illustration to alert faster than nan velocity of sound — thing nan immense mostly of group haven't moreover done coming — backmost successful 1947? That's conscionable lunacy. If you want to study much astir Yeager and this unthinkable feat, cheque retired History.com.