I feel this could be considered “beating a dead horse.” The Tesla Cybertruck is no more. It failed. It barely sold. It’s being discontinued.
People with taste won.
But I’m feeling petty. I feel like Tesla gets away with way too much BS. I can’t really stop that from happening, but I can keep talking about it. And if you know me, I am willing to keep talking about it and talking about it and talking about it.
CEO Elon Musk promised a lot of things about the Cybertruck that never came true. That included predicting 250,000 sales a year. The 70,000 total sales in three years didn’t warrant letting the dumpster-shaped EV take up so much of the Gigafactory. It also didn’t warrant the Cybertruck existing at all.
So, to celebrate the hideous monstrosity finally leaving the roads in mid-2027, here are the Tesla Cybertruck’s worst moments.
Way worse range, but don’t worry, you could pay to improve it (slightly)
As I mentioned, Musk was obsessed with inventing tons of crazy capabilities for the 6,600-ish-pound behemoth ahead of its launch. This included setting a cheap price range (it ended up selling for over $100,000 when it launched), claiming it was “built for every planet,” and boasting a 500-mile range. If that sounds familiar, it’s because Musk also made up an over-the-top range for the Semi that wasn’t even scientifically possible at the time of its original release date. It was, unsurprisingly, delayed.
The idea of a hulking, angled dumpster with the least aerodynamic design ever conjured up somehow having a 500-mile range was not believable to anyone with logic. But to Tesla fanboys, this was a sign of innovation. A sign of the future. And anyone who questioned it just hated Musk’s genius.
Okay, well the Cybertruck arrived with 340 miles of range. And that was Tesla’s claim. That’s over 100 miles off, but nothing super atrocious. Just another exaggeration. No big deal. But real-world tests only hit 200 to 250 miles of range. And that dropped even further if the Cybertruck tried to tow anything.
Perhaps even worse than the initial lie was the Range Extender. This was a massive panel that you’d put in the Cybertruck’s bed (taking up basically a third of that space) to add 120 miles of range. That still wasn’t even 500 miles, but Tesla said it would cost $16,000 anyway. So… Tesla fans had to pay the price for the vehicle’s shortcomings and Musk’s made-up numbers. Luckily, it was canceled, because I’m sure a handful of suckers would have paid Tesla for f***ing them over. That kind of humiliation is even too much for me to write about. I get second-hand embarrassment far too easily.
A nearly 7,000-pound “boat” that sinks in water
Along the same vein as the broken promises about the Cybertruck’s range, Musk also made the infamous claim that the massive, shoddily built electric vehicle could become a boat. Right, because being waterproof is all it takes for a vehicle to “serve briefly as a boat” to cross bodies of water.
Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren’t too choppy
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 29, 2022
You know it’s stupid. I know it’s stupid. But sadly, a good handful of people thought a nearly 7,000-pound truck could float because a guy said so on X. And they even drove their Cybertrucks into bodies of water to test Wade Mode for themselves.
No, they were not drunk. It was worse: they blindly listen to men they don’t know on social media. Cybertruck owners: Glazing Musk will not get you noticed. It won’t get you any money. In fact, you’ll lose money once you destroy your vehicle and have to pay a ton of fines. It’s time to get a hobby.
If you need more proof that we should stop letting Musk make up things about his own products, the Cybertruck can’t even go through a car wash. The Cybertruck’s design lets water collect inside the frame, frying the wires. And Tesla knows this. Your warranty is voided if you take the Cybertruck (which is full of fingerprints) through the car wash. Despite knowing this, Musk kept telling these morons to drive through lakes.
I cannot imagine the power trip someone must get after telling people to sink their $100,000 vehicles and then seeing them continuously praise and defend you.
Apocolypse? You can’t even relax on the beach
I think this is perhaps even worse. We all know that a massive truck can’t float. But the Cybertruck can’t even go off-roading. And yes, that’s despite being “built for every planet” and Musk boasting the Cybertruck as some apocalyptic and indestructible vehicle made for “late civilization.”
Even though it was obvious Musk was watching way too much sci-fi instead of trying to understand what a successful vehicle needs for modern families, Cybertruck owners still couldn’t help but embarrass themselves on off-road trails, beaches, and even in shallow puddles. Endless videos show Cybertrucks struggling on the most basic off-road obstacles. It almost makes me feel bad for the chuds inside who really felt their constantly recalled dumpster with flimsy panels was worthy of being on the same paths as actual off-roading vehicles.
Almost.
My favorite moment was probably when a soccer mom in a rental Toyota Sienna had to pull a Cybertruck out of the sand on the beach. On top of having the same off-road capabilities as a Toyota Corolla, the Cybertruck is immensely heavy. This caused it to sink into the beach even harder. On top of that, the driver seemed sorta clueless and kept touching the steering wheel. It was a huge disaster, and probably one of the more embarrassing moments caught on camera. Not that this is the only time a Cybertruck was stuck in sand. You can find plenty of this happening.
A mom in a Toyota Sienna pulls a Cybertruck out of a treacherous sandpit
— Vikram Bath (@vikrambath.bsky.social) May 14, 2026 at 12:46 PM
People actually bought it after a failed demonstration
One could argue that these poor Cybertruck buyers were bamboozled by Musk’s many lies and claims. I think that’s definitely part of it. But we actually knew those were lies before the Cybertruck was even being sold.
During Musk’s 2019 Cybertruck presentation, the awkward investor decided to show off the vehicle’s “armored windows” by having an assistant throw a metal ball right at one.
It shattered.
For some reason, they threw one again.
That window shattered as well.
But that is just how obsessed the fans are with Musk. Instead of noticing that he blatantly lied about the Cybertruck ahead of its launch, people pointed out how other tests had better results. The door barely got dented by a sledgehammer, so who cares!
And Musk clearly knows he has this kind of hold on people. He probably wasn’t worried at all that the Cybertruck’s window shattered on stage. He probably knew fans would still buy it. And they did.
I think people should be generally embarrassed that they don’t care that a truck is ugly, incapable, and falls short of every promise. Those things should matter. When buying a new vehicle, you shouldn’t overlook functionality, design, and capabilities. Especially when the vehicle is $100,000.
You shouldn’t buy a vehicle just because you like the guy who sunk money into it, especially when he is caught in lies every time he tweets. Luckily, enough people understand this. Hence, the discontinuation of America’s worst vehicle in history.
The one bright side? It could become a collectible. As my colleague pointed out, being super ugly can sometimes make you a cult classic later. Although, some collectors may be averse to owning a vehicle that’s sometimes referred to as the “Swasticar.”
