When Tesla first pulled the cover off the Cybertruck, Elon Musk promised a futuristic, apocalypse-proof juggernaut that would completely revitalize the pickup truck market. Reservations supposedly topped two million deposits, and Musk confidently projected a staggering 250,000 sales annually.

Fast forward to today, and that momentum has completely dried up. Instead of dominating sales, the stainless-steel behemoth is facing a massive demand problem. And according to recent figures, Tesla is relying on other means to keep the production lines moving: selling them to Elon Musk’s other companies.

A massive share of recent Cybertruck registrations came from SpaceX, which purchased 1,279 Cybertrucks in the fourth quarter of last year.

To put that into perspective, SpaceX absorbed more than 18% of all Cybertruck registrations during that period. When you factor in purchases from other Musk-affiliated businesses, nearly 20% of Cybertrucks registered in Q4 was simply bought by one Musk company from another.

The estimated value of these company-linked purchases hovered around $110 million. And this likely won’t stop anytime soon as data shows these internal acquisitions continued into early 2026.

CarBuzz raised an interesting question: why does a rocket company, with only 10,000 employees, need over 1,200 trucks? It strongly suggests Tesla may be using its sister companies to absorb excess inventory and artificially prop up factory output, a move that investors in those affiliated companies might not be thrilled about if they found out.

Remove these corporate sales and Tesla has only sold 39,000 in 2024, and just 20,237 the following year – under 10% of what Musk was expecting.

In comparison, Ford’s F-150 Lightning moved 33,510 units in 2024 and another 27,307 in 2025. Even Chevrolet managed to sell 11,275 electric Silverado trucks last year.

So, why are buyers staying away? Several factors are likely at play, including potential reputational damage linked to Musk’s polarizing political views. However, the core problem came in the massive gap between what was promised and what was actually delivered.

The truck simply didn’t live up to the hype built around it.

Musk originally promised a sub-$40,000 starting price and up to 500 miles of driving range. In reality, it’s a lot more expensive and a lot less capable. The absolute top range figure is only 325 miles and the base model now starts at $69,900, the Premium sits at $79,990, and the tri-motor Cyberbeast demands $99,990. Tesla did briefly launch a cheaper $59,995 version earlier this year, only to quietly hike the price by $10,000 just weeks later.