As reported by Electrek, Elon Musk has leaned on one of his privately held companies to absorb excess inventory of Tesla’s most controversial vehicle. SpaceX has purchased more than 1,000 Tesla Cybertrucks, with total spending estimated between $80 million and $160 million.
Tesla originally planned to produce up to 250,000 Cybertrucks per year at Gigafactory Texas. Based on registration data and sales estimates, demand appears to be well below that target, with annual sales likely under 20,000 units. Despite more than one million reservations announced before launch, only around 60,000 have reportedly converted into actual orders since production began.
The gap between expectations and reality has been driven by higher-than-promised pricing, reduced range, and the removal of several headline features shown in the original 2019 prototype. As a result, the Cybertruck has struggled to gain traction beyond a niche audience.
Deliveries of Cybertrucks to SpaceX and Musk’s AI company xAI began earlier this year, but sources now say SpaceX alone has already taken delivery of over 1,000 vehicles, with the possibility of doubling that number. At a base price of roughly $80,000 per truck, the purchases represent a meaningful revenue boost for Tesla, particularly as US EV incentives wind down.
What remains unclear is how SpaceX is using the trucks operationally and what utilization rates look like across its facilities. While the purchases help Tesla’s quarterly numbers, they also underline how heavily the automaker is relying on Musk’s broader corporate ecosystem to support a vehicle that has yet to find mass-market demand.
