Tesla scraps Cybertruck for Australia and NZ

Tesla has cancelled plans to sell the Cybertruck in Australia and New Zealand, informing reservation holders in emails sent on 22 and 23 October 2026 that plans to produce the vehicle for both markets have been discontinued. The decision ends expectations of a right‑hand‑drive Cybertruck for the region and confirms that the electric pickup will not be sold locally.

The message to customers states that, after careful consideration, plans to produce the Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand have been discontinued and that existing reservations cannot be fulfilled. This formal confirmation follows years in which the model appeared on local websites and accepted reservations without a final launch commitment.

Australians were able to place a refundable A$150 deposit for the Cybertruck from late 2019, shortly after the vehicle was first revealed, and similar reservations were accepted in New Zealand. Tesla has previously indicated that tens of thousands of Australians reserved the vehicle between 2019 and 2021.

With the cancellation, all outstanding Cybertruck reservations for Australia and New Zealand are being voided and deposits will be refunded in full. Customers are receiving a separate email asking them to confirm their refund details, after which Tesla says the money will be returned within 30 days.

Some reservation holders had already requested refunds earlier under the original deposit terms, but many remained in limbo after Tesla removed the Australian reservation page in May 2022 and replaced it with a “Get Updates” button without automatically refunding deposits.

As a goodwill gesture for early interest in the Cybertruck, Tesla is offering affected reservation holders one year of free access to its Full Self‑Driving (Supervised) software if they order a new Model 3 or Model Y. The subscription is valued at A$1,788, and is presented as a thank‑you for customers’ support.

The offer effectively shifts potential Cybertruck buyers towards Tesla’s existing passenger models in Australia and New Zealand, both of which are already available with right‑hand‑drive configurations and established local support.

The cancellation reflects regulatory and technical hurdles to bringing the Cybertruck to right‑hand‑drive markets. The vehicle is produced only in left‑hand drive and is not sold in any right‑hand‑drive country, while it is not legal to sell new left‑hand‑drive vehicles in Australia.

Meeting local design rules would have required major engineering changes. Experts have questioned whether the Cybertruck’s angular shape could comply with Australian regulations, and engineering a compliant right‑hand‑drive version was described as unlikely to proceed.

Tesla’s Australia and New Zealand country director said in 2025 that right‑hand‑drive feasibility was under discussion, but no formal local launch was confirmed before the October 2026 emails. The new announcement closes that chapter by explicitly ending work on a regional version.

The move comes amid signs that the Cybertruck remains a niche product. Estimated US Cybertruck sales fell 63% year‑over‑year in the third quarter of 2025, undercutting earlier ambitions for high‑volume production.

In 2024, Elon Musk told shareholders that designing the Cybertruck to meet all international requirements would make the product worse, suggesting that region‑specific versions, such as those compliant with European‑derived rules used in Australia, would only be viable with sufficient volume. The combination of slow US sales, regulatory demands and right‑hand‑drive constraints has culminated in Tesla abandoning the Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand.