Tesla ends seven year wait to cancel Cybertruck plans in Australia and New Zealand
Reservation holders in the region will receive full refunds as the electric pickup is officially shelved for the local market.
By Emily Carter ·
The long wait for the electric pickup is finally over, with Tesla confirming it will not build the vehicle for the Australian or New Zealand markets.
Reservation holders in both countries received notification emails this morning stating that their orders have been voided. Tesla specified that all payments made toward the reservation will be fully refunded within thirty days of the notice.
The financial commitment from customers in Australia began in November 2019. At that time, drivers paid a deposit of A$150 to secure their place in line for a vehicle that was initially projected to start at A$55,990. This means many customers waited nearly seven years for a product that the manufacturer has now decided not to produce for their specific region.
The cancellation notice was brief, with Tesla stating that after careful consideration, plans to produce the Cybertruck for these markets have been discontinued. As a gesture of goodwill, the company is offering a free one year subscription to its Full Self Driving capability for those who choose to purchase a new Model 3 or Model Y instead.
This decision follows the release of Tesla’s third quarter 2026 earnings report. The move addresses a logistical hurdle that has plagued the truck’s global expansion: the vehicle is manufactured exclusively in left hand drive. Australia and New Zealand require right hand drive vehicles, which necessitates significant re engineering and local certification processes.
Market data suggests the potential customer base in these two regions was substantial. Crowdsourced surveys from 2020 indicated that Australia held the third highest number of reservations globally, accounting for approximately three percent of all pre orders. By 2023, total reservations worldwide had reached an estimated two million units.
Tesla had previously paused the Australian reservation page in May 2022 without offering immediate refunds, leaving many customers in a state of limbo. In 2024, CEO Elon Musk told shareholders that certification for other markets might occur the following year, a prediction that did not materialize due to the complexity of adapting the vehicle for right hand drive configurations.
Current sales figures indicate that the demand does not justify the cost of re tooling the production line for smaller markets. In the third quarter of 2026, Tesla delivered only 8,295 units of its other models, a category now dominated by the Cybertruck since the Model S and X lines ended. This pace is significantly lower than the factory’s annual capacity of 250,000 units, making a specialized right hand drive program financially difficult to sustain.
The cancellation marks a shift in strategy for the vehicle, which is now increasingly viewed as a niche product for North America and select left hand drive markets. While deliveries have begun in South Korea, the UAE, and several Middle Eastern countries, the truck remains absent from major right hand drive regions like the UK and Japan, cementing its status as a regionally limited offering for the time being.
Source: Electrek
