Tesla has told Australian and New Zealand customers that the Tesla Cybertruck in Australia is not coming. According to Engadget, the company said plans to produce the truck for both markets have been discontinued, that every affected reservation will be cancelled, and that customers will get their money back. The reported refundable deposit was A$150 in Australia, with sources citing NZ$150 on the New Zealand side.
The email lands almost seven years after Australians first put down money on the stainless steel pickup. Reservation holders have spent that stretch watching the truck appear in roadshows and videos while no local delivery date ever materialized. Friday’s message closes the file for good, at least for now.
The timing matters too. The Driven reports that the email went out on Friday morning, a day after Tesla published its quarterly results, which showed auto revenue down 3% and energy down 16%. A cancelled niche product for two small markets will not move those numbers. It does say something about where Tesla is willing to spend engineering hours, and about what a right-hand-drive Cybertruck would have cost to build.
This analysis covers what Tesla said, how the refund works, what we know about why the plan died, what remains unconfirmed, and what Australian truck and ute buyers can realistically buy instead. Where Tesla has not explained something, we say so rather than fill the gap.
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What Tesla’s Email Told Reservation Holders
The customer email is short and blunt. Per Mashable, Tesla wrote: “After careful consideration, plans to produce Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand have been discontinued.” The next line removes any ambiguity for the people who paid in. Tesla wrote: “As a result, we’re unable to fulfil your reservation and it will be cancelled.”
The money side gets one sentence. The New Daily quotes the company as saying, “You’ll receive a full refund for any payments made.” That wording covers any payments, not only the headline deposit figure, which keeps the commitment simple for anyone who may have paid more than the standard reservation amount.
What the email leaves out is just as telling. Tesla gives no reason for the decision beyond saying it considered the matter carefully, it names no replacement product in the truck segment, and it offers no timeline for any future reconsideration. EV Central’s report states plainly that Tesla has not publicly explained the decision beyond the customer email. We treat that silence as a fact in itself and avoid guessing at motives Tesla has not stated.
How the A$150 Cybertruck Refund Works
The refund process has two steps, and customers have to act on the second one. Tesla said reservation holders will receive a separate message asking them to confirm refund details. The 30-day processing clock starts only after that confirmation, so a holder who ignores the follow-up email delays their own payout.
| Item | What Tesla and the reports say | Outlet |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit amount | A$150 in Australia, with NZ$150 reported for New Zealand | EV Central, The Driven |
| Reservation status | Cancelled for affected customers | Mashable |
| Refund size | Full refund of payments made | The New Daily |
| Refund timing | Within 30 days after customers confirm refund details | EV Central, The Driven |
| Confirmation step | Separate email asks holders to verify refund details | EV Central |
| Consolation offer | One year of FSD (Supervised) with an order for a new Model 3 or Model Y | EV Central, The Driven |
| Total deposits refunded | Not disclosed | Unconfirmed |
What reservation holders should do now
Holders should watch for the second email, check spam folders, and confirm their refund details promptly. Anyone who has changed banks or cards since 2019 should expect to update those details. Tesla’s 30-day promise is the only deadline on record, so keeping the confirmation email as proof of the date is a sensible precaution.
EV Central notes that some deposit holders already asked for their money back over the years and received it under the original deposit terms. Those customers are outside this round of refunds. The people affected now are those who kept their place in the queue, in some cases for the full stretch since late 2019.
The Free FSD (Supervised) Year: Worth and Catch
Tesla paired the cancellation with a consolation offer. Eligible holders get a complimentary one-year Full Self-Driving (Supervised) subscription if they order a new Model 3 or Model Y. The Driven reports that the subscription applies after delivery, and EV Central says it can be combined with Tesla’s current offers.
EV Central put a number on it. FSD (Supervised) currently costs A$149 per month locally, so a year of it is theoretically worth A$1,788. The outlet added a dry caveat: you only collect that value by spending A$50,000 or more on a new Tesla. For someone who wanted a pickup, that is a steep trade. The offer works as a retention tool, not as compensation for seven years of waiting.
The choice of FSD as the sweetener is deliberate. The Driven reports that Tesla’s latest quarterly results showed more than 75% of new Tesla purchases include an FSD (Supervised) subscription, up from 55% a year earlier, with 1.7 million paid FSD customers globally. Tesla is also pointing to a push toward unsupervised FSD around the second quarter of 2027, so every new subscriber matters to its software revenue story.
The Driven also flags a local irritation. Some long-term Australian customers say they cannot get the FSD they paid for because the hardware in their earlier cars cannot run it. A free subscription on a new Model 3 or Model Y does nothing for them, and the cancellation email arrives against that backdrop.
Seven Years of Waiting: The Cybertruck Australia Timeline
The Cybertruck saga in Australia ran longer than most product cycles. EV Central, which has followed the story since the start, says Australians could place a A$150 deposit from late 2019, shortly after Tesla revealed the truck. It adds that Tesla previously said tens of thousands of Australians reserved one between 2019 and 2021.
| Date | Event | Outlet |
|---|---|---|
| Late 2019 | A$150 deposits open in Australia after the truck’s reveal | EV Central |
| 2019 to 2021 | Tesla previously said tens of thousands of Australians reserved a truck | EV Central |
| May 2022 | Local reservation page pulled and replaced with a Get Updates button, with no automatic refunds | EV Central |
| 2024 | Evaluation Cybertrucks imported for a national roadshow and motor-show displays | EV Central |
| March 2025 | Tesla ANZ country director Thom Drew said he was personally confident the truck would come, possibly in 2026 | EV Central |
| About a month later | Drew sounded far more cautious, saying he was not confident it was coming | EV Central |
| May 2025 | Local team briefed on Australian Design Rule changes, including bumper widths, external lighting and right-hand drive | EV Central |
| October 23, 2026 | Email confirms production plans discontinued and reservations cancelled | Mashable, The Driven |
The pattern in that table is a slow retreat. The reservation page vanished in 2022, the roadshow in 2024 kept interest alive, and the executive messaging softened across 2025. By the time the email arrived, few watchers were surprised. EV Central called it the end of any chance that many had already expected. The Driven describes the cancellation as the abandonment of plans for Australia and other right-hand-drive markets.
Why the Cybertruck Business Case Never Closed
Tesla has not given a reason, but local coverage offers a consistent reading. EV Central argues that regulatory compliance was arguably never the biggest hurdle. The Australian Design Rule changes were identified and scoped, and the required tweaks covered bumper widths, lighting and the right-hand-drive conversion. The sticking point, in EV Central’s view, was always the business case.
Two numbers frame that argument. EV Central says the large pickup segment in Australia accounts for about 10,000 sales per year, and that Tesla’s own local leadership conceded the segment alone would not justify the truck. The plan would have required pulling buyers from large SUVs as well. Australia would also likely have been the only right-hand-drive market for a vehicle that has not sold in the volumes Tesla first expected in the United States.
Price compounds the problem. EV Central reports that the dual-motor Cybertruck sells for around US$80,000 in the US, against an early promise of roughly half that. It translates to about A$130,000 before on-road costs and local taxes. That is an exchange-rate estimate, not an announced Australian price, since no local pricing was ever published. EV Central adds that the truck would have been classified as a commercial vehicle, which sidesteps the luxury car tax, yet it would still be a big ask in a market where full-size American pickups are a niche.
The Driven makes a similar point about scale and rules. It says the truck’s size and Australia’s strict design requirements always raised the question of whether it would ever be sold there. It also notes that the Cybertruck struggled for sales even in its home market, which weakened the case for engineering a special variant for a small right-hand-drive customer base.
What Tesla Has Not Said
A clean news story needs a clear line between confirmed and unconfirmed. Several important questions remain open, and we are not filling them with guesses.
- The total number of affected reservation holders has not been disclosed. EV Central’s reference to tens of thousands comes from a past Tesla statement about 2019 to 2021 sign-ups, and many have since withdrawn.
- The total value of deposits to be refunded is unconfirmed, because it depends on how many reservations are still active.
- Tesla gave no reason for discontinuing production for these markets in its customer email.
- No source confirms that the Cybertruck will never be sold in Australia or New Zealand under any future program. The email only says current production plans were discontinued.
That last point deserves care. Tesla’s wording covers plans to produce the truck for these markets. It does not promise permanent exclusion, and no outlet we reviewed reports that it does. Readers should treat the headline as a cancellation of the current plan and nothing broader.
Australia’s Electric Ute Market Moved On
Even if Tesla had shipped, the market around it shifted while the truck sat in limbo. EV Central points to plug-in hybrids such as the BYD Shark 6 and GWM Cannon Alpha, plus fully electric options such as the new MG U9 EV, all now on sale. Australian ute buyers who wanted an electrified truck can already buy one, usually at prices well below a converted American import.
The wider EV market also looks different from 2019. The Driven reports that EV sales boomed this year and captured about one quarter of the new car market, and that the Tesla Model Y remains the best-selling EV in Australia by a long way. It even overtook the country’s popular utes to become the best-selling passenger car of any type in several months. That is the demand Tesla can serve today without a bespoke build.
For context on how pickups and EVs are faring elsewhere, our look at three new models trying to revive a struggling EV market shows how hard it is to launch a polarizing design at volume. The research behind this story did not establish an official Australian retail launch for Rivian or a verified local lineup for Ford’s electric pickups, so we do not present either as an established Australian rival.
Cybertruck vs the Tesla Options Left for Australia
With the Cybertruck gone, the Tesla range available or discussed in Australia looks like this. The table sticks to what the cited outlets say and avoids unpublished specs and prices.
| Tesla model | Australia and New Zealand status | Detail from reports |
|---|---|---|
| Cybertruck | Production plans discontinued, reservations cancelled | Dual-motor US price around US$80,000 per EV Central |
| Model Y | On sale and named in the FSD offer | Best-selling EV in Australia per The Driven |
| Model 3 | On sale and named in the FSD offer | EV Central links to a brief drive of the 2026 rear-wheel-drive version |
| Model S and Model X | Customers unable to secure new units | Reported by The Driven |
| Roadster | Local arrival described as unlikely | The Driven calls the flying version a definite no |
Read the table as a map of Tesla’s local priorities. The two volume cars carry the business, and everything more exotic is either unavailable or unlikely. The Cybertruck now joins the Model S, Model X and Roadster on the list of Tesla products Australians have waited for without receiving.
What It Means for Tesla’s Hardware Strategy
From a hardware perspective, the decision shows how Tesla sorts its product line. A right-hand-drive Cybertruck would have needed a steering and cabin rework on a body built around a stainless steel exoskeleton, which EV Central notes means the truck has no separate chassis underneath. Reworking that structure for a small market is a different job from flipping a conventional ladder-frame truck.
That engineering reality pushes capital toward products with bigger volume, and Tesla’s recent messaging points the same way. Management has leaned on robotaxi and software narratives, as covered in our report on Tesla’s Q3 call confirming Cybercab sales by year-end. A two-seat vehicle without a steering wheel, detailed in our Cybercab breakdown, represents a very different bet from a pickup for a niche segment.
For readers following Tesla’s broader product moves, the hardware category tracks the chips, vehicles and devices behind these decisions. The Cybertruck cancellation is a small data point in a larger story about which Tesla products get global treatment and which stay regional.
Market Impact: Small Numbers, Real Signals
Financially, the cancellation is nearly invisible. A$150 deposits, even across a large list, total a small sum next to a quarter of auto revenue. Tesla has not disclosed the number of reservations or total deposit value, so any dollar estimate would be speculation. Refunding is also an accounting cleanup, since the money was refundable all along.
The signal is bigger than the cash. First, it confirms that the Cybertruck’s demand outside the US did not justify localization, a point The Driven makes by noting it struggled even at home. Second, it shows Tesla steering displaced customers toward its core cars and its software subscription. Third, it removes a long-running source of local frustration, which clears space for Tesla Australia to talk about the vehicles it can actually deliver.
Competitors gain little immediate benefit, since the truck was never on sale, but the cancellation frees mindshare. Ute buyers who were holding out for a Cybertruck now have a clear reason to look at the plug-in hybrid and electric utes already in showrooms, according to EV Central’s survey of the field.
Historical Context: Tesla’s Pattern of Regional Gaps
Tesla has a history of announcing products before it can serve every market. The Driven notes that Australian customers cannot currently secure new Model S or Model X vehicles, and that the new Roadster is unlikely to arrive locally. The Cybertruck fits the same pattern, with the added twist that Australians paid deposits years before any decision was made.
The 2022 handling of the reservation page is the most telling piece of history. EV Central says Tesla replaced the booking page with a Get Updates button but never refunded deposits automatically, leaving buyers in limbo for years. That choice kept a marketing asset alive at the cost of customer goodwill, and the October 2026 email effectively settles the bill.
Tesla’s software ambitions also have a regional track record. Our piece on Tesla building its own FSD maps starting with v15 shows how much of the company’s future value rests on software rollouts that depend on local regulation. The Driven quotes Morgan Stanley analysts saying FSD is increasingly driving purchase decisions, which explains why Tesla is willing to give away a year of it to keep cancelled reservation holders in the fold.
Predictions: What Happens Next
These are analysis, not reporting. They rest on the confirmed facts above and carry real uncertainty.
- Most refunds should land by late November or December. The 30-day clock starts when each customer confirms details, so completion depends on how fast holders respond to the second email.
- Tesla Australia will push the Model Y hard. The FSD offer is aimed at converting disappointed holders, and the Model Y already leads the local EV market according to The Driven.
- Ute rivals will target former Cybertruck holders. The plug-in hybrid and electric utes already on sale have an obvious marketing opening.
- Similar notices could follow in other right-hand-drive markets. The Driven frames the decision as covering other right-hand-drive markets too, though Tesla has not confirmed that scope.
- The FSD attach rate will stay Tesla’s main retention lever. With a reported 75% of new purchases including a subscription, expect more bundled FSD offers in place of hardware concessions.
Key Takeaways for Reservation Holders and Buyers
If you hold a reservation, the action list is short. Watch for the refund-details email, confirm quickly, and expect payment within 30 days of that confirmation. If you want a Tesla anyway, the free FSD year attaches to a new Model 3 or Model Y order, and EV Central reminds buyers it is worth about A$1,788 on paper.
If you wanted an electric truck, the local options are now defined by what is already on sale. The Cybertruck, a vehicle EV Central says has not sold in anything like the expected numbers even in America, is not part of that list. After nearly seven years, Australia and New Zealand finally have a definite answer, even if it is the one most watchers expected.
FAQ
Is the Tesla Cybertruck coming to Australia or New Zealand?
No, not under any current plan. Tesla told reservation holders that plans to produce the Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand have been discontinued. No outlet reports a future program, but Tesla has not publicly said the truck is permanently excluded.
How much is the Cybertruck deposit refund?
Tesla said customers receive a full refund of payments made. The reported refundable deposit was A$150 in Australia, with sources also citing NZ$150 for New Zealand.
How long will the refund take?
Tesla said refunds will be processed within 30 days after customers confirm their refund details. A separate email asks holders to confirm those details, so the clock starts only after you respond.
What does Tesla offer cancelled reservation holders?
Eligible holders get a complimentary one-year Full Self-Driving (Supervised) subscription if they order a new Model 3 or Model Y. The Driven reports it is applied after delivery, and EV Central says it can be combined with other current Tesla offers.
Why did Tesla cancel the Cybertruck for Australia?
Tesla has not given a reason. EV Central’s analysis points to the business case, citing a roughly 10,000-sale-per-year large pickup segment, a high price and a truck that has not sold as expected in the US. Treat those points as outlet analysis, not Tesla’s stated rationale.
How many people had reserved a Cybertruck in Australia?
The exact number of currently affected holders is unconfirmed. EV Central says Tesla previously stated that tens of thousands of Australians reserved one between 2019 and 2021, but some have since taken refunds.
What can Australian buyers get instead of a Cybertruck?
Within Tesla’s range, the Model 3 and Model Y are the cars named in the offer. For electrified utes, EV Central lists the BYD Shark 6 and GWM Cannon Alpha plug-in hybrids and the MG U9 EV as options now on sale.
