Tesla Ends Cybertruck Sales in Australia and New Zealand

Tesla has officially given up on selling the Cybertruck in Australia and New Zealand. Reservation holders in both countries are receiving emails today confirming that their orders are cancelled and any deposits will be returned. This announcement marks the end of a wait that began in November 2019, when Australians first started putting down A$150 to reserve the vehicle.

The email from the company is brief and direct. It states, “After careful consideration, plans to produce Cybertruck for Australia and New Zealand have been discontinued.” The message continues by saying that Tesla is “unable to fulfil your reservation and it will be cancelled.”

For those who had placed a deposit, Tesla says refunds will be processed within 30 days. The company is also offering a one-year subscription to FSD (Supervised) for free to any reservation holder who chooses to order a new Model 3 or Model Y instead. The timing of these emails came just one day after Tesla reported its Q3 2026 earnings.

This decision brings a long period of uncertainty to a close for many in the region. While Australia was not a small market on paper, crowdsourced surveys from 2020 indicated it was the third-largest market for reservations, behind only the U.S. and Canada, the path to a sale was never clear. Tesla quietly closed the Australian reservation page in May 2022, replacing it with a button to “Get updates” but offering no refunds or further information at the time.

For years, potential buyers were left waiting. In 2024, a Cybertruck was sent to Australia for a display tour, and Elon Musk told shareholders that year, “We might be able to certify it for other markets sometime next year.” That promise, however, was not fulfilled, and no right-hand-drive version of the truck was ever developed.

This lack of a right-hand-drive model is the central issue. The Cybertruck is currently manufactured only in a left-hand-drive configuration. This makes it unsuitable for markets like Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Japan, which all require right-hand-drive vehicles. Additionally, Australia requires certification under its own specific design rules, a costly process for a vehicle that is already facing demand challenges in North America.

The sales numbers for the Cybertruck do not support the investment needed to create a right-hand-drive version for these markets. In Q3 2026, Tesla delivered a total of 8,295 vehicles in a category that is now almost entirely Cybertruck, as production of the Model S and Model X has ended. This translates to an estimated production pace of around 30,000 units per year, far below the 250,000-unit annual capacity of the production line.

Tesla’s other international launches for the Cybertruck have all been in left-hand-drive markets, with deliveries starting in South Korea late last year, followed by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and Israel. The vehicle remains unavailable in the European Union, primarily due to pedestrian safety regulations.

While Tesla has not provided a comment on the decision, the cancellation of these reservations marks the end of a long wait for many. The company has stated it will refund deposits for the cancelled orders within 30 days. The vehicle remains available in left-hand-drive markets, but there are no plans for a right-hand-drive version for Australia or New Zealand.