Tesla Cancels the Cybertruck in Australia and New Zealand, Seven Years After Taking Deposits

Seven years is a long time to hold a place in line. That is roughly how long some Australians and New Zealanders have had a deposit sitting with Tesla waiting on a Cybertruck. This week Tesla emailed them to say it is not coming.

The email is short and flat. Tesla's "plans to produce Cybertruck" for those two countries "have been discontinued." Deposits get refunded within 30 days, counted from when a customer receives a follow-up email confirming their details. Tesla also has a suggestion for anyone still in a buying mood. Order a new Model 3 or Model Y and you get a year of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) at no cost.

Tesla did not say how many reservations this covers. That number would tell you something about how much demand the truck ever had outside North America, which is probably why it is not in the email.

Anyone watching closely saw this coming. Drive Australia has reported for years that Cybertruck availability in the region was uncertain. When deliveries began in 2023, sources said Tesla's Texas factory was not set up to build right-hand-drive versions. That is the whole thing. Without a right-hand-drive model the Cybertruck cannot legally be driven in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Japan or Ireland.

Europe is a separate mess. Tesla has never officially released the Cybertruck in the UK or the EU, and the truck has no European regulatory approval. The reported concerns are structural and unglamorous. They cover crumple zones, pedestrian safety given all those sharp edges, lighting, and how a vehicle this heavy gets classified.

If you are one of the people getting a refund, the question is whether the Model 3 or Model Y offer is worth taking. A free year of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is genuinely useful if one of those cars was already on your list. It does nothing for you if what you wanted was a stainless steel pickup, because Tesla does not sell anything else that comes close.

Tesla closes the file with a refund and a discount offer. The people who reserved in 2019 get their money back and nothing else for the seven years. If a right-hand-drive Cybertruck ever does arrive, Tesla will be asking them to line up a second time.